Managing Holiday Stress - Un-Crunch Your Holidays

Tips to Help You Decompress and Get Rid of Stress After the Holiday Stress

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

I'm so relieved that the holidays are over. The shopping, the parties, the eating, the drinking, the family -- I'm so burned out. But I feel like I'm so used to doing it that I can't chill out now that it's over. Any tips on getting over all this holiday stress?

Sincerely,

Post-Christmatic Stress

April Masini's advice:

Dear Post-Christmatic Stress,

There are lots of simple ways to get yourself de-stressed after the busy-ness of Christmas. Here are five tips toward winding down from the holidays and heading into the New Year in peace, with a calm state of mind.

#1 - Take a moment of silence — or an hour — to ring in the new year. In this age of stimulation and 24/7 communication one of our rarest commodities is silence.

#2 - Take an hour alone in a quiet place and be still. Don’t walk around a museum — instead sit in a classical or folk music concert.

#3 - Sit in a park.

#4 - Meditate in your own space.

#5 - Hike to a great view and stay there for an hour alone.

It’s a great discipline and a rejuvenating exercise to be quiet and listen before getting back to the business of the new year.