Holiday Party Prep: Stress Tips Flashback
Preparing to see family for the holiday season? There can be a lot of feelings and some odd social anxiety. It seems strange to be nervous about spending time with family, but quite often you don’t really know what each others’ day-to-day experiences are like. It can be hard to make small talk with people who don’t share your favorite shows, your career, your friends, or perhaps your political or social views. You may be dreading another recitation of stories of silly things you did when you were 4 or getting into an argument over the value of social media with someone two generations older than you.
How do we bridge the gap, connect with family, and have a less stressful, more joyful holiday?
Listen to an interview I gave with WDBJ7 in Roanoke (way back in 2011) about holiday stress tips.
A few ideas I shared then with some relevance for today:
Prepare a list of questions ahead of time. Ask your relatives detailed questions about how they spend their day, who they spend the most time with, what progress they’ve made in a hobby that they enjoy, what motivates them most at work. Listen to their answers and search for commonalities in your lives.
Don’t worry about having a deep conversation with everyone at a given event. Try to find one person to make a meaningful connection with. Perhaps the relative who has trouble hearing in a noisy room and has isolated in a quieter room might appreciate a one-on-one conversation.
Think ahead about things you’ve accomplished this year and might like to share. Preparing ahead will help fill you with confidence and deflect difficult conversations to pivot into sharing the most exciting parts of your year.
Don’t compare yourself to what others have or what others expect of you. You may have different values, different goals, and a different life journey. It’s ok.
Recognize that your relative wants the best for you and has their own value system for that, just as you may judge their lives by your own values. When you share your happiness with confidence, and learn about what makes them truly happy, you may be able to skip past the differences and focus on the joy.
There’s a few different ideas in the broadcast, check it out!
Good luck with your family this holiday season!
