Coping with Holiday Stress

For many of us, the winter holidays can be both a time of joy and of stress. While we enjoy special times with our friends and loved ones, we may also feel that we have a long list of meals and decorations to prepare, gifts to purchase, or other things to do. For families with school-aged children, the break from school can be both relaxing and stressful, depending on how the family copes with changes from the “normal” routine. I think many of us also want the holidays to be “perfect” and that just increases our stress levels. Also, those who have lost friends or loved ones may find themselves experiencing extra grief during the holidays.

The Mercer County Library System has many resources to help us reduce our stress levels overall, including audiobooks, DVDs, print books and eBooks. Here are just a few:

Mirror Meditation [book on cd]: The Power of Neuroscience and Self-Reflection to Overcome Self-Criticism, Gain Confidence, and See Yourself with Compassion by Tara Well. Based on cutting-edge neuroscience, Tara Well offers mindful practices for increasing your self-awareness, managing stress and emotions, developing self-compassion, and increasing your confidence and personal presence.

Managing Stress: The Power of Mindset. In this DVD, Professor Nicole Weekes explains the basics of the stress response and distinguishes between the different types of stressors and the perception of disease.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Daily Life. This DVD will help you learn how to make every day more powerful and peaceful using the tools of cognitive behavioral therapy".

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski explains why women experience burnout differently than men-- and provides a simple, science-based plan to help women minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life.

The Science Behind Tapping: A Proven Stress Management Technique for the Mind & Body

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT or tapping) is a growing field in the self-help area, but only in the last decade has it become the focus of clinical and scientific trials to test its effectiveness. This book offers the missing piece of this self-applied stress management tool: how and why it works.

Effective Stress Management by Ben Carlos. 

HOOPLA AUDIO BOOK

Perfect Attendance: Being Present for Life by Harriet Stein. Stein gives sound advice that is impactful in our personal lives where it really counts with our families, relationships, and health, and teaches mindfulness tools that significantly minimize the effects of stress.

Total Meditation: Practices in Living the Awakened Life by Deepak Chopra. The definitive book of meditation that will help you achieve new dimensions of stress-free living.

Healing Your Holiday Grief by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph. D.

HOOPLA E BOOK

When Holidays Hurt by Bo Stern

HOOPLA AUDIO BOOK

Surviving the Holidays Without You: Navigating Grief During Special Seasons by Gary Roe

HOOPLA E BOOK

During the winter months, people may not spend as much time outdoors and exposed to nature, which is known to improve our moods. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also causes depression during winter months, thought to be brought about by factors including lower levels of sunlight and more cold weather. People who live in northern countries such as Denmark and Norway have developed strategies to counter the negative effects of the cold and dark months. These include hygge in Denmark, developing a sense of comfort and well-being, and friluftsliv in Norway, which is a spending time in nature without destroying or disturbing it. These are some of the useful resources that MCLS has on these subjects:

My Houseplant Changed My Life: Green Well-Being for the Great Indoors by David Domoney. Everyday products pollute the air in our homes, and our mental well-being is threatened like never before--but help is on hand from the humble houseplant!

Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder): A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons by Norman E. Rosenthal. Rosenthal, who first described Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and is the foremost authority on the subject, offers an up-to-date guide to overcoming the miseries that millions experience with the changing seasons.

My Hygge Home: How to Make Home Your Happy Place by Meik Wiking. Inspired by Danish design and traditions, this inspiring book, featuring tips based on research from The Happiness Institute in Copenhagen, shows how to turn a home into a cozy sanctuary regardless of available space or budget.

Hygge Living by Thomas Nielson

There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge) by Linda McGurk. Bringing Up Bebe meets Last Child in the Woods in this lively, insightful memoir about a mother who sets out to discover if the nature-centric parenting philosophy of her native Scandinavia holds the key to healthier, happier lives for her American children.

I hope that this helps ease the stress and worry that you may experience during the winter holidays. Remember to relax and be gentle with yourselves.

- by Sharon S., Ewing Branch