20 Ways to Lower Stress and Actually Enjoy the Holidays This Year

Start by promising yourself to not overcommit. Yes, you love hosting. But it’s a lot of work. Let others have a turn!

When going to potlucks, end-of-school teacher appreciation tables, holiday banquets, or any other event where you’re expected to bring something, consider something store-bought. If you feel that’s too easy, use your store-brought food as a canvas and add something extra at home. Get a plain bundt cake at the store, but make your own frosting decorations. Or get ingredients at the grocery store salad bar, but assemble it at home with your own homemade dressing.

Plan your holiday shopping now. Start with these holiday shopping guidelines by writing down the names of everyone you need to shop for and the number of gifts you want to get them. Then, brainstorm gift ideas.

Start your holiday shopping early. Open tabs for online stores, and start filling the cart. Edit later based on Black Friday sales, changed minds, or better deals elsewhere. Hit “buy” when you’ve covered enough people and there is enough in the cart for free shipping.

Call your favorite sitter now if you’re planning on going out for New Year’s Eve. If you’re in charge of Thanksgiving this year, see if you can book a few hours for the Wednesday before, so someone’s watching the kids while you’re doing last-minute prep. Line up someone for the office holiday party, Secret Santa drinks with your girlfriends, and at least one night out for you and your partner.

Costs, in addition to time, can get away from you over the holidays. This adds to stress and diminishes the enjoyment of this wonderful time of year. Get your holiday budget in order now — not just for buying gifts but also for meals out, meals hosted, and babysitter costs. If you hire DJs for your holiday party or like to give hostess gifts, add something in the budget for those, too.

Don’t skip workouts, even when you’re full, hungover, or when you’re super tired from shopping, planning, and smiling. Your workouts will keep the stress at bay. And your body will thank you (after the fact, of course).

Be selective when it comes to offering your home to out-of-town guests. Plan now so that you don’t feel trapped when your least-favorite relatives ask to stay with you for a week. Ungrateful, loud, or simply annoying guests take all the fun out of the holidays.

Be sure to plan downtime throughout the holiday weeks. Back-to-back nights out are fun for a while, but they can also get exhausting. Make sure at least one evening a week (more if you need it!) involves no obligations to anyone but yourself and Netflix.

Make sure you do non-holiday-related things: See Christmas-release movies, go to museums, hike if the weather is nice. Planning fun outings and new experiences that don’t involve gift exchanges or carb overloads will heighten the joy of the season.

If someone offers to host, say yes. If someone offers to watch the kids, say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Accept help this time of year. Doing it all by yourself will make a magical season for other people, but it will exhaust (and possibly upset) you in the process.

Say no, too! RSVP with regrets if you opened the invite and your first thought was “ugh.” If you don’t have the space or time to host, say no to that. Don’t volunteer at your kids’ school events if you’d rather take time off work for some self-care.

Eat at restaurants as much as you can if dinner prep is going to add to your holiday time misery. The best way to enjoy the season is to remember that you, deserve to enjoy it too.

This is not the time of year to start a new weight loss plan. But not gaining the holiday 15 is possible too. Make sure that when you’re not at a holiday celebration, try to stick to your healthy way of eating. Get plenty of vegetables, high-fiber grains, drink lots of water, and take your vitamins.

When the calendar starts filling up, make sure to write in those traditions and routines that you enjoy and need in your non-holiday life: yoga class, church, AA meetings, book club. Stick with the routines you love.

Holidays tend to become family-focused, but for many of us, friends are family. Make time for them during the holidays too. Laughing and eating with your besties is a great holiday tradition.

Make gift-giving easier by suggesting Secret Santa gift exchanges among groups of people in your life. Instead of a little something for all your work pals, draw names from a hat, go to lunch, and have fun surprising each other. If you have a number of siblings or siblings-in-law, this is also a fun way to do gift exchanges without the stress and expense of shopping for each one individually.

Especially in an election year, avoiding discussions about politics is nearly impossible. Get right with your triggers now — decide how you’d like to respond to cousins, uncles, and your father-in-law who always manages to say exactly the wrong thing. Don’t ignore your values. Speak up, speak well, and prepare for pushback.

With so many holiday parties, it’s easy to overindulge in alcohol. Figure out your limit and stick to it. Decide which nonalcoholic drink you like best and order that instead. You’ll thank yourself the next morning.

We love the holidays for so many reasons, sometimes even because of the stress. You can get through it if you take care of yourself. That means getting away from obligations at least once a day. Get outside — the best place to go to decompress. Take a breather in the cold, fresh air, and then go back in and celebrate.