The Christmas season, as well as other winter holidays, is a time of joy, celebration, and fellowship. However, during this season, many people may also have the holiday blues. There are many contributions to the holiday blues. There may be budgeting issues or the absence of loved ones. Many also worry about cleaning their houses and preparing the meals. However, these are just a few of the many contributions to the holiday blues.
For my family, traveling and buying presents were the two major stressors of the holiday season. Living isolated from all extended family, even living at least three states away from any family, made traveling a difficult concept. If we traveled to my mother’s family, we would have to plow through snow over hundreds of miles. If we traveled to my father’s family, we would be fighting traffic for the majority of the time. The roads were difficult no matter where we drove.
Traveling problems were not the only problems during the season, though. Trying to find the perfect gifts for both family and friends has always been a struggle. Though one of my cousins may have enjoyed receiving a Barbie doll one year, they may not want one the next year. Buying gifts not only includes knowing the interest groups of the recipient, but also keeping the gift in a price range. This would take a toll on my parents, as they struggled to find the perfect gift for my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and coworkers. However, buying presents and traveling are just two of the many contributors to the holiday blues.
Though the holiday blues may negatively affect a person’s winter holiday, there are many measures to prevent and ease the holiday blues. To prevent buying presents last minute, when they may be more expensive and even out of stock, begin buying them in the summer and accumulate them through the fall. Also, to prevent traveling problems, such as traffic and weather, look online to see where the weather may be bad and search for roads less traveled. Also, for those who prefer to fly, ordering tickets weeks in advance can not only help prevent the struggle of buying them before they are sold out, but will also cut the costs of the ticket prices. To prevent other major stressors, such as budgeting, maybe begin to save up each month throughout the year. This would make it easier to pay for the gifts, travel expenses, and any other miscellaneous spending.
There are always some stressors that cannot be avoided, though. Thus, there measures to ease the stress are necessary. For one, exercising and eating a diet rich in both vegetables and fruits, according to Heather Cheek, can help ease the holiday blues. Running, for example, can give a positive outlet to the stress and holiday blues that someone may have. Another useful way to ease stress is to take breaks to calm down, which include meditating and relaxing, as stated by Connie Bennett. These techniques can give a sense of peace. Though the holiday blues may be a discouragement to anyone’s holiday plans, there are measures that can be taken to ease and prevent any dampers on anyone’s holiday.
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