While the festive season is a time that a lot of people really look forward to and enjoy, for others it can actually cause a fair bit of anxiety and stress. This year, with restrictions on how many people are able to gather and where, that’s likely to increase stress levels still further.
Net News Ledger recently pointed out that we need to acknowledge that the festive season can be stressful, as this will enable us to deal with it.
In fact, the publication shared the findings of a 2015 survey conducted by Healthline, which found that 62 per cent of people felt more stress during the holiday season than at other times of the year.
When you think about it, it’s easy to see why. There is the potential financial stress associated with buying gifts, as well as potential stress surrounding travel and even the pressure to be ‘happy’. Add in the global pandemic and it’s easy to see why this Christmas could be stressful for many of us.
If you’re already starting to feel stressed about the upcoming holiday season, what can you do to help yourself feel calmer and more in control?
Christine Deschemin, a Harvard MBA and hypnotherapist based in Hong Kong, told the news provider that she believes hypnotherapy could provide the answer that some are looking for.
She is also a believer in self-hypnosis, where you can use the techniques you’re taught by a professional to help you relieve feelings of anxiety and stress. “By leveraging the mind-body connection, it can alleviate anxiety and stress symptoms while promoting self-regulation,” she explained.
Although these techniques take practice, they are well worth the effort for the long-lasting benefits they can bring to your life, Ms Deschemin believes.
This year, it’s more important than ever to be aware of the stress we might be under and to look for ways to reduce it.
“The pandemic has laid bare our vulnerabilities…[which can] change the body’s physiology and lead to a series of changes noticeable by everyone around you,” she told the news provider.
Being aware of when we’re feeling stressed is the first step to help us tackle it, followed by understanding where that stress has come from, Ms Deschemin said.
Developing this awareness and understanding can be assisted through sessions with a hypnotherapist in Wimbledon or wherever you live.
In an article for the Cleveland Clinic in the US, holistic psychotherapist Maura Lipinski explained that hypnotherapy can help you explore the emotion(s) you’re feeling in the present and relate them to their origins.
Where anxiety is concerned, the response we have to our anxieties in the present could go back to a response we had years earlier. In identifying where this response stemmed from, we can start to address and change unhelpful responses.
Given that the holiday period is typically a time of heightened emotions, it’s understandable that for some people these emotions and responses will be negative rather than positive. However, by developing this awareness in a controlled and supportive environment, it’s possible to manage and reduce anxiety and stress in a healthy and long-lasting way.