How to blow away the Christmas blues

If this is the most wonderful time of the year, why doesn’t it always feel quite so wonderful?

Reasons for the stressful season abound. Companies are scrambling to finish the year strong, which can exert more pressure on employees. Great expectations don’t end when you leave work, either. There’s the whole Perfect Christmas thing to try to live up to, testing the bounds of your generosity, and your sanity. So how do we turn this anxiety into joy? Or at least, open the valve on the pressure cooker just a couple rotations?

The immortal Clark W. Griswold, in full meltdown mode, seeks advice from his dad. Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Sr., confides in his son that he got through Christmases past with a lot of help from the spirits. Not Dickens’ kind of spirits, but the kind you can find on certain store shelves.

That, of course, isn’t for everybody. Overdone, it can easily work the other way. So what other options are there?

First, go easy on yourself. Most of us have fairly strict financial limits and can’t come close to doing all we’d like to do for others. That’s OK. When your newspaper repeatedly asks you to support Press Christmas for All and you’d love to give $10,000 but can’t afford more than $10, know that your $10 will make a big difference to someone who has nothing at all. Celebrate what you can do and let the rest go.

Take care of yourself. When we need sleep, exercise and healthy food the most seems to be the time we get them the least. Watch your caffeine intake; don’t overdo it at the table; and plan your day with some component of exercise scheduled just like an important appointment. If you can’t afford a health club membership or a treadmill at home, Mother Nature can help. Few forms of exercise are more physically and spiritually rewarding than a brisk walk at English Point, around Tubbs Hill, McEuen Park or along Centennial Trail.

Laugh. For the remainder of the holiday season, tune out the politics, the international crises, the purveyors of fear and fury. Instead, take a Christmas vacation, even if you can’t get away. The more merriment you create with the ones you love — taking long walks, watching favorite holiday movies, baking and decorating cookies— the more wonderful this time of year will be.

It isn’t the things we accumulate but the happy experiences we share that matter.