It’s the most stressful time of the year

For a season synonymous with celebration and joy, the holidays sure can cause a lot of stress. From work demands to family gatherings to social events, it can feel like stress is hitting us from every direction, making it easy for emotions to spill into all areas of our lives. That’s how we end up losing opportunities to connect with loved ones because we’re obsessively checking our work email, or missing important information in a meeting because we haven’t finished our shopping.

When we don’t manage our stress, it accumulates and triggers our fight-or-flight response, which can lead to a variety of consequences, including emotional outbursts, poor decision-making, and even physical illness. That’s why we’re tackling end-of-year stress—exploring where it comes from, how it manifests, and strategies to avoid letting it overshadow your holiday season.

The Fight-or-Flight Trap

A lot of my work is informed by neurology, particularly how our brains and bodies respond to fear. End-of-year stress might not sound like it falls under the category of fear, but it does when our bodies can’t distinguish between real and imagined threats.

Our fight-or-flight response is a survival instinct stemming from our ancestors’ need to spring into action when predators appeared. This instinct has remained intact, although nowadays, we’re more likely to enter fight-or-flight mode in response to things like approaching work deadlines or hosting certain relatives for the holidays (even if we know neither pose a threat to life and limb).

While in this headspace, our logical brain doesn’t function as well, leaving room for our emotional brain to run rampant. This puts us on edge, making conflicts with family or coworkers more likely.

The Cumulative Impact of Stress on Our Health

When stress isn’t managed, it can harm several systems of the body. For example, when we’re stressed, our muscles tense up, causing pain and discomfort that can lead to chronic conditions.

Unmanaged stress can also cause shortness of breath and exacerbate preexisting respiratory problems. It may result in elevated blood pressure, chronic fatigue, metabolic disorders (such as diabetes and obesity), depression, and immune dysfunction.

For more information on how stress impacts our health, visit this resource from the APA.

You can help prevent harm to your body by reconnecting with it. Try these practical strategies:

• Belly breathing: Also known as diaphragmatic breathing, this is a simple yet powerful way to calm your nervous system. Shifting your breath to your abdomen engages your body’s relaxation response, reducing tension and encouraging clarity.
• Journaling: Writing can help you release emotions without letting them affect your surroundings. It’s especially helpful when preparing for potentially stressful events like large gatherings or interpersonal conflicts.
• Physical activity: Exercise releases endorphins and gives your brain a break from external stressors. A quick walk outside can be particularly beneficial, exposing you to fresh air and vitamin D, which improve mood, energy, and sleep.

Practice these stress-relieving behaviors until they become second-nature tools that support you through the holidays and into the new year.

Manage Stress Long-Term with Mental Reappraisal

Stress management goes beyond short-term physical practices; to be truly effective in the long term, it must involve ongoing mental reappraisal—actively reframing how we perceive situations.

This approach is central to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on the interconnectedness of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By changing one, we can influence the others, breaking cycles of stress and negative emotions.

Here are some examples of how CBT techniques can help reappraise stressful thoughts, particularly at the end of the year:

1. Identify and Label Cognitive Distortions: Catch yourself when you think things like, “I’ll never get all my work done on time,” and label them as catastrophizing. This is a good starting point for reframing unhelpful thoughts (see tip #2).
2. Reframe Unhelpful Thoughts: Challenge yourself to reframe catastrophized thoughts into more helpful ones, like “I’ve been overwhelmed with work before and gotten through it. And once I’m done, I’ll get to enjoy the holidays without work on my mind.”
3. Use “Both/And” Thinking: Also known as dialectical thinking, this is a form of reframing that acknowledges two things can be true at once. Instead of thinking, “I’m exhausted, so I won’t be able to enjoy the holidays,” tell yourself, “I’m feeling tired, and I can still find small ways to enjoy the holidays.”
4. Practice Self-Compassion: Beating yourself up only makes you feel worse—remember how our thoughts, feelings, and actions inform one another? Replace thoughts like, “I shouldn’t feel so stressed; everyone else seems to have it together,” with ones like, “It’s normal to feel stressed; it’s a busy time of year, and I’m doing my best.”

By practicing these techniques, you can build a healthier relationship with stress and regain a sense of control, even during the busiest times of the year.

Conclusion

When stress enters our body, we can’t just pretend it’s not there and hope it won’t cause problems. Sooner or later, it will surface, leading to emotional, mental, and physical distress.

Knowing this, we can proactively manage stress by implementing consistent practices—combining short-term solutions like belly breathing with long-term strategies like mental reappraisal.

Let’s get ahead of end-of-year stress and set ourselves up for an enjoyable conclusion to 2024 and an energetic start to 2025! Every thought is a possibility.