Stress, Anxiety, and the Holidays

With Passover around the corner, many people are feeling more stressed out than usual. Holidays are times of increased expectations and responsibilities. Preparations for holidays often include trying to meet a tremendous range of demands. Our lives are already pressured enough without the added stress of cleaning, cooking, shopping, caring for children on break from school, and hosting guests from out of town. The pressure to create a memorable and meaningful holiday leads us to exact the highest standards on ourselves and creates an internal pressure to achieve unrealistically lofty goals.

Though this pressure can lead to the realization of a beautiful holiday experience, it often comes at the price of our mental health and emotional stability. The physical strain of the added responsibilities of holiday preparations can take a heavy toll. Many people have to adjust and balance their normal work schedules with the added exertions required for the holidays. The additional shopping, cooking, cleaning, and preparing can lead to physical fatigue which in turn leads to more stress. In addition, with our calendars over-scheduled and our agendas filled to capacity, it is often difficult to find time to do the things that alleviate our stress, like exercising and making sure to get enough rest.

Relationships can be another key source of stress over the holidays. During holiday celebrations people are forced into close quarters with family members and others with whom they must spend prolonged amounts of time. Relationships can be tough in regular times but over the holidays tensions can run even higher. Differences and old family conflicts become magnified when people are thrust together and feel obligated to interact for extended periods. In addition, the belief that holiday celebrations should be harmonious and free from discord adds another dimension of intensity to the mix.

Financial strains are another source of tension during the holiday season. The current economic climate has already caused apprehension about money among many people but this stress becomes exponential as the extra costs of holiday expenses get factored into our budgets. It is already difficult to navigate the reality of our financial situations when holidays like Passover add additional demands and significant expenditures that can overextend our resources.

As these different stressors accumulate and intensify, they clash with our expectations for a joyful holiday experience and the result is often increased anxiety. One way we can begin to combat some of this anxiety is to alter our expectations about the holiday. As people change and families grow, different needs arise and what was once simple can become exponentially more complicated. It is important to acknowledge that things are more difficult and that all of the same standards and goals we hope to achieve cannot be met every year. Try letting go of some of the extraneous tasks that are on your list of things to do. This may alleviate some of the additional strain brought on by the holidays.
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