How to Deal with Holiday Anxiety
With the holidays coming up, I’ve noticed a lot of anxiety coming up as well. There’s a pressure, especially for college students, to have something to brag about when getting together with your family. Here are a few tips to make those awkward family gatherings a little less awkward and a little more fun.
1. If you don’t get along with someone, don’t spend the whole time with them. There will always be that one family member who rubs you the wrong way. Instead of spending the whole night talking to them and rolling your eyes, exchange polite greetings with them but spend the rest of your time with the fam that you can have fun with.
2. Don’t tell them if you don’t want to. You don’t have to answer all the questions that your family asks. Sometimes you’re not ready to answer or an answer would be too complicated. You don’t have to lie but keep answers vague and simple and don’t linger on questions that you don’t want to talk about.
3. Don’t tell anyone too much. You may not want to spill everything that’s going on in your life. Even if your Grandma knows that you drink, she may not want to hear about you puking after too much beer pong over Halloweekend.
4. Don’t take things too personally. This is always a tough one for me. When family members ask a lot of questions about classes or the future, it may be kind of upsetting if things aren’t going your way right now. You can still be upset but don’t let it get to you and certainly don’t blame your relatives who are just interested in your life.
5. Be thankful. Over the holidays, you are likely getting a lot of gifts and free food (score!!). Your fam doesn’t have to do any of this for you so just remember that and take time to be grateful.
6. Value the time you have with them. Spending a lot of time with a lot of people can be overwhelming but just remember that things like this usually just happen a few times a year. Now that we’re getting older, family time will become scarcer. If you keep this in mind, it might make some of the quirky things that happen seem more humorous and endearing than annoying.
Happy holidays!