Christmas, meant to be a time of enjoyment, "peace and goodwill to all men " is nowadays, more often than not, a period of time that people wish was over! Christians are as prone to stress as anybody else, so be real. This is not helped by the distressing commercialization of Christmas which seems to get worse as each year passes. Instead of peace the opposite is often the norm - experienced especially by adults with family responsibilities and commitments.
A definition of Stress can be 'when the demands put upon us outweigh the resources we have'. Christmas is a time when great demands are placed upon our whole being - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and behavioral.
At Christmas there can be the following demands;
1. Time Pressure - including the deadline of December 25th!
2. Expectations and Pressure to Achieve - from oneself and others.
3. The list of jobs shout at you to be done - your home to clean and polish, the rooms and tree to decorate; the table to be laid for the occasion; cards sent and presents wrapped (having been bought); and a huge (usually hot) meal to be prepared,cooked and presented (after horrendous exhausting shopping with perhaps fractious children)!
Put all those together, and mix with the possibility of emotional anxiety and maybe dread and fear of relationship situations, and the conclusion could be:-
CHRISTMAS = STRESS!
What does our Heavenly Father think about all this? How sad and grieved must Jesus and The Holy Spirit be as they witness tension,tiredness, short tempers, angry words and rows, and worse - drunkenness, debauchery, violence, neglect and abuse.
As Christians we must first be AWARE of, and IDENTIFY areas of our personal stress. then consider whether you have things out of kilter and and the need to take some practical steps.
10 Practical Steps For Reducing Stress:
1. Plan and Prioritize
2. Delegate and get help
3. Learn from last year and be flexible
4. Build in time and space for Yourself, i.e. time with the Lord, a brisk walk, relaxation time of 15 minutes using a DVD or CD if necessary to help you escape from it all.
5. Build in some degree of failure into " Christmas"! It really doesn't matter if we fail to complete the mammoth job lists we set ourselves! Does it really matter?
6. Learn the "So What" Principal - therapeutic indifference, (but not at the expense of being responsible!)
7. Lower Expectations - of self and others
8. Forgive quickly - yourself if you fail, and others who let you down or annoy you!
9. Drink lots of water and...........
10. DON'T FORGET THE LORD JESUS! Do give Him TIME, preferably first thing in the morning.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only answer to your stress. Learn to roll it onto Him because He is more than able to sustain you.
There is an accepted association between nutrition and stress. Stress can lead people to make poor nutritional choices which can affect overall health. Poor nutrition also can greatly affect a person's capability of reacting and coping with stress. And because of this, good nutrition is always part of effective stress management. Here are just some simple tips that would help people use good nutrition as a means to manage the stresses in life.
Eat Breakfast Regularly A well nourished body always has a bigger capability of coping with stress. The earlier the body is prepared, the better. When a day is about to be filled with stress at work or anywhere else, it pays to keep the body well prepared to handle it as it comes. Bear in mind that stress can easily deplete the body of essential resources that keeps it functioning well. Too much stress can also induce the body to use up more of a variety of nutrients which can easily lead to serious deficiencies. If the body is not prepared to cope up with the changes that stress can bring, it would likely react negatively in some way or the other.
To prepare the body for the stress ahead, people should need to keep their body well-stocked with nutrients. If done early in the day, the better the chances that the nutrients are well stocked up to handle the body's needs. This can be assured by eating breakfast regularly.
But the ability to cope with stress can be worsened by skipping breakfast which is the most important meal of the day. The result would be a body that would react very poorly to stress as it comes. But by eating a well-balanced breakfast regularly, the body is ensured of a build up of much needed resources and nutrients, making it more capable of coping with stress for the day.
A Well-Balanced Meal Apart from eating breakfast regularly, eating a well-balanced meal should also be considered. What will a breakfast be of use if it doesn't provide the body with its much needed nutrients? There are certain nutrients that the body needs in order to fight off the effects of stress more effectively. Also remember that stress can speed up the use of some of these nutrients.
When the body is under stress, it starts to produce stress hormones. The stress hormones then trigger the body to excrete a number of essential minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium from the body. These minerals, when present in the body, actually help it cope with the symptoms and physical signs associated with stress.
The essential minerals that are excreted by the body as it produces stress hormones actually help to avoid mood swings and help the muscles to relax. Without them, the body won't be capable of handling or coping very well with stress and would even make it worse. Along with essential minerals, more antioxidants such as vitamin A, B, C and E may be needed by the body since it tries to increase the use of such nutrients while it is under stress.
The antioxidants help the body fight the free radicals which are released by the body's adrenal glands when it reacts to stress. By eating an well-balanced diet, you are helping your body build up on the essential nutrients that it needs to fight off stress. There are also several nutritional supplements available that would help make up for essential nutrients that may not be provided fully by your diet.
Using good nutrition to fight stress is sensible stress management.
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