Is holiday stres release possible? A friend known as the Holiday Queen, wrote, “I’m sitting this season out for a change. I’m so swamped at work that I’ve decided to take a pass on the holidays all together this year. I didn’t do Thanksgiving and won’t be doing Christmas and haven’t decorated or bought any gifts. I told my family that I’m not doing the holidays this year. They were all very understanding and thanked me for doing it all the other years for our family. Instead, my older sister made arrangements to go to a restaurant, so all I have to do is show up.
“It was hard for me to draw that line for myself and say no. But I did and it was like stepping into an awakening. I’ve been noticing I’m doing more of that and much to my surprise, the world isn’t tumbling down around me. I’m coming to realize that the pressure and stress I experience is due in part to my ideals and the expectations I put on myself. No one expects me to do things to the level and degree I do them. I’m the only one that expects that from myself.
Holiday Stress Release Works at Work
“Years ago, I reported to the president of our company and he told me once, ‘You do things at such a high level that even if you were to drop your standards by 30% I wouldn’t even notice because what I want is probably in your 40% level. So by dropping your standards by 30%, putting you at delivering just 70% of what you are capable of, means you will still be delivering 30% higher than my expectations. You wouldn’t have to work yourself so hard and burn out and I’d still think you are a Super Star hitting it out of the park every time.’
“I wanted to test his theory. I dropped my standards and after I completed the project, I told him all the ways I cut back on what I wanted to deliver. He said what I delivered was perfect and he didn’t even notice. So, all the other stuff would have just been extra and wasn’t needed.
Holiday Stress Release is Possible
“It has stuck with me all these years, but I never trusted myself to do that again even though I knew I could…until now. So I guess cutting back on the holidays is a start of something new I’m trying out. I think it will help make a difference in a big way for me.
“If other women would just try it on for size and see what happens, they may realize that the world will not come tumbling down around them.”
Check out our holiday stress release programs.