It's a season marked as much by ``Stress!'' as ``Joy!''
If it's any consolation, even Martha Stewart can have trouble finding joy at this time of year. But how does she not focused on coping with the much-discussed holiday blues but on diving into the ribbons and tissue, seizing a merry moment and shaping the season for happiness--it's self-explanatory, she's Martha. But you're not. So, what do you do?
Start from this perspective, "the holidays are about celebration, not performance. It's not about perfection. It's about what works for you and your family." Still, Christmas is wrapped up in so much memory and tradition, that the promise of a picture-perfect setting is an invitation for stress. This all feeds into the fantasy that holidays are the time for perfect family togetherness and when it doesn't happen, people get depressed. To keep yourself from going insane, all you have to be willing to do is give up the "everything must be perfect 'fantasy.'"
Easier said than done, but once you start to see the big picture and not all the little things that need to be done, you can take pleasure in what's really around you. Christmas traditions are fine, but they can become overbearing and create more resentment than joy. Part of the holiday pressure to get it all done in time is self-inflicted. But you have to start with the premise that you are a good person. You have to accept yourself, not what other people say.
Joy begins inside each of us. And it's magic.
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