Negative effects of holidays include stress, unhappiness, low self-esteem, bad attitudes, and the list goes on. Now if you are someone who don’t like the holidays for some reason that is not negative that is completely fine, however many don’t like them because of the ill effects they experience. This post was prompted by a recent experience I had and how I decided to remedy it.
A while back I was helped a member of my family shop for another member, it was a frustrating experience for both of us because the member I was helping was burnt out and seemed tired of it all. One year I brought up and item to buy for a Christmas gift and here was the response I got:
“Why do we have to do this every year, for everything, why don’t we just write everyone a check and be done with it?”
I responded calmly and made the purchase however I was beginning to feel negative effects of the holidays due to their response. I felt bad because that person was not happy, no merry enough for me, and then I felt bad because I realized that although I was not as intense I had a similar attitude about the holidays. I began to realize that I was shopping to “get it done with”, I was wrapping fast to “get it done with”, and I had other things to do than concentrate on these things. Then it dawned on me:
I was too busy to experience the Joy of Giving!!! WOW! What a wakeup call!
I began to remember back when I was a child how much I looked forward to each holiday, how fun it was for me and somewhere along the way I lost that joy.
Negative Effects of Holidays Remedy
It is said many times when it comes to personal growth, the law of attraction and so on that there is no need to go back, however this time it helped. I made a list of every holiday I could remember that was wonderful for me here is a bit of it:
- I got my first dog as a Christmas Gift
- I made my friend a gift that caused her to be so happy and cry with joy
- I went to see my extended family each year and had a wonderful time
After I made the list I did something I had not done in years I made a snowman! I won’t say that it fixed everything but I will say that during that time I had a flood of wonderful memories of childhood.
There are many reasons why some people don’t like the holidays and if you are one of them it may be time to find out why. Is your reason for dislike because you always feel bad or is it that you don’t like them because it is just not your belief to celebrate them? If it is because you experience to much stress, fear, a general sense of discomfort, anxiety, or any negative feeling, then the reason you do not the like the holidays is because of you, too harsh? Here is why I say that:
You are always responsible for you own feelings as hard as that may be to accept. No one MAKES you feel bad and events don’t MAKE you uncomfortable, it is the way you CHOOSE to react to them that causes the issues.
If you want to eliminate the negative effects of holidays and you truly want to enjoy them start small:
- Make a list of times when you did enjoy the holidays and take time to fully embrace the wonderful feelings that went with it.
- If you cannot avoid negative individuals start looking for the small good things about them, it could be as small as you like their shoes
- Buy or make a gift with meaning
- Volunteer to serve meals or hand out clothing and begin to feel that wonderful joy of giving again.
You do not have to experience negative effects of the holidays if you begin just letting them be what they are, letting the people you are with be who they are, and most importantly embrace who you are and what you can give, you can use these Holiday Stress Relievers if that is you desire.
