4 Anxiety Reducers This Christmas Season

As America becomes steadily more diverse, inclusive, and secular, the fundamental reasons for some of our longstanding Christian traditions and beliefs have, for many, lost much of their meaning.

Many have replaced Easter — the celebration of the wonderful resurrection of Jesus Christ — with Easter baskets and the Easter Bunny. Religious rituals and Easter outfits have taken center stage, leaving the simple, heart-felt worship of Jesus in its wake.
We’ve squeezed more and more into our workweeks, where Sunday has become just as busy and stressful as the other six days, overlooking God’s command that we carve out our seventh (Sabbath) day for the purpose of worship, rest, and renewal.
Christmas has turned into a mega-commercialized season of running around frantically, losing our patience with others, spending more money than we have to purchase gifts for people that they don’t really need and we can’t afford, and the list goes on. All at the expense of our emotional health. Oddly, depression and anxiety are at their peak in the US during the time of years intended to celebrate the Price of Peace.

There must be an answer

Here are a few of what I call “anxiety reducers” that you can implement this Christmas season. Start small as you seek to implement some new patterns into your life. Give yourself grace — it takes time and discipline to change life-long habits. Most of all, don’t make it about the changes your making, but about the peace and joy you experience in your soul as your making them.

Keep Jesus the focus

When the world tries to pull you into its hectic, stressful patterns, you must discipline yourself to keep your focus where it shoiuld be, I’ve heard an old saying, “keep the main thing the main thing.” Center your celebration of Christmas around the birth of the savior of the world. And He came to bring us the very things the world attempts to squeeze out of us — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Seek simplicity

Keep it simple, rather than the excitement that this season can bring. It’s easy to get drawn into all of the excitement of the season — shopping, decorating, baking, traveling, partying, and so on. And these are all good things — when done in moderation and with the proper focus. You must lean to say ‘no’ to anything and anyone who’s attempting to push you into stress, chaos, people-pleasing, or materialism.

Choose to be frugal

Don’t purchase anything — gifts, decorations, food — that you can’t pay cash for at the time of purchase. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the first charge card was introduced. In the five decades since, The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that holiday retail sales this year will increase 2.5–3.5% to a record $980–989 billion, and the average American will spend more than $2,000 on the holidays, which includes travel, food, clothing, gifts, and hosting parties.

Relax with people you enjoy

Spend relaxing times with people you enjoy and who bring joy to your heart. It is definitely counter-cultural to seek peace and joy during the most hectic season of the year. But you’re not alone in your attempt to find it. Be vigilant to seek out family, friends, and neighbors who are wanting to simplify the holidays. Enjoy quiet conversations, relaxed meals, fun, and laughter. You’ll be sharing with each other a gift greater than can be given in a box with a bow.

If you’re looking for an anxiety therapist that follows faith-based values please feel free to get in touch for a free consultation. Our Bible-informed, Christ-centered approach at Life Training Christian Counseling can help. We invite you to contact us to learn more.