The five keys to worrying less during the holiday season are:
- Stay busy.
- Avoid self-caused worries (such as overconsumption).
- Be significant in the lives of others.
- Commit random acts of kindness.
- Want less.
Stay busy. People with idle time tend to worry more than people whose time is preoccupied. Fill each day with actionable pursuits and you’ll ensure less time’s available for your mind to worry.
Avoid self-caused worries. Worries tend to come from the inside out, meaning they begin with things we bring upon ourselves, and then radiate outward to our interactions with family, friends, job (or job pursuit), and beyond. Self-caused worries during the holidays fall into two broad buckets, overconsumption and overextension. Overconsumption involves eating and/or drinking too much. This creates worry for obvious reasons. Since nerves can propel both, make a point to be extra aware of choices you make. Since the social themes of the holidays lend themselves to overdoing it, keep a heightened sense of awareness and don’t overdo it.
Overextension is when we mortgage a moment for the ongoing emotional worry tax we’ll pay over time when we spend money we don’t have or pay more than we should. The holidays are a time for smart decision-making, not irrational, spurious sprees. If money’s tight, improvise. Overspending unnecessarily mortgages future happiness and causes self-inflicted worry. Don’t do it.
Be significant in the lives of others. The economy has tossed a lot of good people in the barrel of uncertainty, so we don’t need to look far for someone to cheer up. Provide important support to those you care about without being asked. Some will express gratitude willingly. Others may not. The actions tied to being significant in their lives are what enrich nuclear happiness. We all take turns in the barrel; it’s how life works. When someone you know is taking his or her turn, voluntarily reach in to help. When your turn comes, the same number of hands you’ve extended to others will reach in to help you, too.
Commit random acts of kindness. Never goes out of style, never fails to bring a smile. Being significant in the lives of others is a strategy we use to enrich the situations of people we know and care about. Random acts of kindness are tactical, surprise demonstrations of unexpected goodness. Do this for others and you can’t help but feel better about yourself.
Want less. I live by a bumper sticker that says until you’re happy with who you are, you’ll never be happy with what you have. The corollary to that is fun to experience: that once you are happy with who you are, suddenly you realize that you’ve already got pretty much all you need. In other words, it’s not the stuff we accumulate that matters, contentment comes more from the way we live with the stuff we have.
Follow these five tricks to managing your personal air space and you will have a happier, more fulfilling holiday season. So will others you care about, too.