{"id":26147,"date":"2025-12-16T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147"},"modified":"2025-12-01T14:25:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:25:58","slug":"take-charge-of-holiday-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/12\/take-charge-of-holiday-stress.html","title":{"rendered":"Take Charge of Holiday Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26150\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands\u2014shopping, travel, decorating, family expectations, social events can push even calm people toward overwhelm. In the first chapter of my new book\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hope-Healing-Anxiety-Christian-Counseling\/dp\/1960624172\/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2ATPUQNCIUQMF&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.RzA-vEO9gqJmPs5wxIUDZRehaaVcMaYbmwNj5Ak6OOM.-P556BwSaaNLhU9-27QGZIuIj8FuwFmzmaiV3ipWB74&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=hope+and+healing+for+anxiety+linda+mintle&amp;qid=1759691021&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C236&amp;sr=8-1\">Hope and Healing for Anxiety,<\/a><\/em> I explain that unmanaged stress is often the doorway to anxiety. If you don\u2019t recognize stress early and deal with it, you can slide into anxiety and miss the peace the season is meant to bring.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1: Identify What\u2019s Stressing You<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A simple but powerful first step is supported by stress-management research. Name <em>your stressors<\/em>. Studies show that labeling your emotions and stressors quiets the amygdala (the brain\u2019s alarm center) and increases clarity for problem solving.<\/p>\n<p>Take a moment and write down everything weighing on you. Then divide the list into:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Short-Term Stressors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These are the holiday-specific pressures that will pass\u2014gift buying, planning meals, hosting guests, decorating, or preparing for travel. They feel big in the moment, but because they are temporary, they don\u2019t cause the same long-term wear and tear on the body that chronic stress does.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chronic Stressors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These are the issues that last well beyond Christmas\u2014financial strain, work pressure, ongoing conflict, caregiving demands, or relationship problems. Research consistently shows that chronic stress raises cortisol levels for long periods, which can disrupt sleep, weaken immunity, worsen inflammation, and contribute to anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n<p>Because chronic stress has deeper physiological and emotional effects, it requires more direct attention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2: Notice How Your Body and Mind React<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stress affects everyone differently. Scientists call this your \u201cstress signature,\u201d the unique way your body, emotions, and behaviors respond.<\/p>\n<p>Ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Physical signs:<\/strong>\u00a0headaches, muscle tension, jaw clenching, stomach issues, fatigue<\/li>\n<li><strong>Emotional signs:<\/strong>\u00a0irritability, sadness, anger, feeling overwhelmed<\/li>\n<li><strong>Behavioral signs:<\/strong>\u00a0withdrawing from others, overeating, overworking, drinking more alcohol, gambling, overspending<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These reactions are normal. When your brain perceives pressure, it activates the stress response system. But seeing your patterns can help you act earlier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3: Look for Patterns and Then Address the Root<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you review your list and your reactions, can you spot a theme? For many people, stress revolves around the same core areas: finances, relationships, perfectionism, time pressure, or unresolved hurt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spiritually<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You are not meant to carry all this alone. Scripture reminds us to cast our burdens on the Lord. Sometimes that means forgiving someone, letting go of an old wound, or extending grace during a tense holiday moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Practically<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once you spot the root, deal with it, not just the symptoms. Research-supported stress-reduction strategies include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Regular physical activity:\u00a0even 20 minutes reduces stress hormones<\/li>\n<li>Volunteering\/giving back:\u00a0linked to lower stress and greater well-being<\/li>\n<li>Setting financial boundaries:\u00a0consulting an accountant or financial planner can lower financial anxiety<\/li>\n<li>Social connection:\u00a0supportive relationships buffer the physiological effects of stress<\/li>\n<li>Bible reading to renew our mind daily<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Short-term comfort (shopping, snacking, scrolling) may provide relief for minutes, but addressing the underlying issue brings long-term peace.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 4: Create a Stress-Reduction Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most people become stressed because they overcommit or hold unrealistic expectations of themselves or others. Research shows that perceived control\u2014the sense that you can manage what\u2019s happening\u2014is one of the strongest predictors of lower stress.<\/p>\n<p>To build that control:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Say no\u00a0more often<\/li>\n<li>Plan ahead\u00a0and spread out tasks<\/li>\n<li>Set boundaries\u00a0on what you can handle<\/li>\n<li>Drop perfectionism<\/li>\n<li>Adjust expectations of family members who may not change<\/li>\n<li>Stay focused on the true meaning of a holiday<\/li>\n<li>Build your spiritual muscles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Consistent stress relief in mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual areas is what creates resilience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bottom Line<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can get through holiday stress with intention. Manage the short-term pressures through planning, and then take steps to address the deeper, chronic stressors that truly affect your health and peace. When you deal with stress early, you protect your body, mind, and spirit and you make room for a season of joy and meaning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands\u2014shopping, travel, decorating, family expectations, social events can push even calm people toward overwhelm. In the first chapter of my new book\u00a0Hope and Healing for Anxiety, I explain that unmanaged stress is often the doorway to anxiety. If you don\u2019t recognize&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4099],"tags":[3104,9530,681,9536,9533,17,9542,9539,9401],"class_list":["post-26147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stress","tag-chronic-stress","tag-holiday-demands","tag-holiday-stress","tag-long-tern-stress","tag-short-term-stress","tag-stress-2","tag-stress-and-emotions","tag-stress-and-the-body","tag-stress-help"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Take Charge of Holiday Stress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands can push even calm people toward overwhelm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take Charge of Holiday Stress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands can push even calm people toward overwhelm.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T13:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T19:25:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Take Charge of Holiday Stress","description":"Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands can push even calm people toward overwhelm.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Take Charge of Holiday Stress","og_description":"Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands can push even calm people toward overwhelm.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2025-12-16T13:00:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-01T19:25:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147","name":"Take Charge of Holiday Stress","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-16T13:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-01T19:25:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"description":"Stress may be a constant companion, but the holidays can make it worse. Extra demands can push even calm people toward overwhelm.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/pencil-2878764_1280.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26147#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Take Charge of Holiday Stress"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26156,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26147\/revisions\/26156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}