From Stress to Joy: A Faith-Based Holiday Guide for Women

🌟 New Podcast Episode Alert! 🌟

The holiday season is upon us, and while it's a time of joy, it can also bring stress, especially for women juggling multiple roles. 🎄✨ This week, we dive deep into the impact of holiday stress on women and offer faith-based interventions to help you find peace and joy this season.

👉 Discover how to align your expectations with God's vision and learn practical strategies to manage stress effectively. Tune in now and embrace a more joyful holiday experience!

#HolidayStress #FaithBasedInterventi​on​s #WomenEmpowerment #JoyfulSeason #PodcastEpisode

Transcript

Welcome to the The Positive Growth Doctor Podcast®! I am your host, Dr. Christina Wilson. 

We are a week into December. That means that Christmas is around the corner. 

Let’s do a quick pulse check. When I say that Christmas is around the corner, how does that feel to you? What is the first thing that comes to your mind? What do you feel in your body? 

Do your muscles tighten up? Are you clinching your jaw? Do you feel fear, overwhelm, or dread?

We often overlook what our body and mind tells us in the midst of stress and in busy times in your life. 

When it becomes chronic or long term, it is just another day, and stress is all we know at that point. 

In this episode, we explore the heightened stress women face during the holiday season due to increased mental and physical loads. We discuss how societal expectations often clash with God's vision for women and offer faith-based interventions to help manage stress. 

You will gain practical strategies to embrace a more joyful and fulfilling holiday experience. Tune in to align your holiday season with faith and joy!

Find the full transcript for this episode on your favorite podcast app. 

Please share the podcast with other women to help them grow on their journey through life. 

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Understanding the Impact of Holiday Stress on Women: Mental and Physical Load

Holiday planning can be exhausting with a long list of things to do, such as shopping, traveling, and decorating on top of your usual tasks of running the kids around, cooking, cleaning, working, and so much more. 

Women are expected to create a magical and perfect holiday experience for all, but the weeks that lead up to it involve pressure to perform, increased work load, struggles with mental health, or a recurrence of past anxiety and/ or depression symptoms.

Not only is there an increased physical load, but the mental load increases as well. This might lead to financial worry, grieving the loss of those who will not be around for the holiday, burnout, and self-neglect. 

God designed men and women differently. Women are described as helpers, who nurture with strength and dignity. 

That might feel especially heavy in today’s world because over time, the world has latched onto us and society has placed its own stamp on women creating unrealistic expectations of them. 

The focus is on charm and beauty, which is not aligned with what we as women were intended for. We live in an imperfect world and are imperfect human beings. 

We need grace as we navigate this life and continue to learn. It’s His grace and His truth that matters the most… not society’s. 

Aligning God's Expectations with Societal Pressures on Women

Nowhere in the bible does it say that women are expected to be perfect. On the contrary, women encompass faith, inner beauty, and kindness, which allows them to help and nurture others with Christ at their center. 

So, when the world gets a hold of us, no good comes from it. It leads to resentment, stress, anxiety, and depression. 

As a result, sleep is interrupted, negative thinking ensues due to excessive worrying and comparison, which is the opposite of what God wants for us. 

I want to note that when stress and worry becomes chronic, it can manifest itself physically, such as blood pressure, headaches, muscle tension, lowered immunity, digestive changes, and so much more. 

Faith-Based Strategies for Managing Holiday Stress and Enjoying the Season

So, how do you get through the holidays and serve God in the process?

1. Increase Self-Awareness - Consider how you have dealt with previous stress during the holidays. What came up for you mentally and physically? What were the potential triggers associated with that? You must be aware of these things for growth to occur so you can manage future holiday stress. 
2. When things come up for the past or something occurs in the present, acknowledge it, and leave judgement behind. Show yourself grace and recognize what you have control over in the present. 
3. Recognize emotional, mental, and physical cues. Are you experiencing negative thought loops, negative emotions, or physical symptoms (headaches, digestive upset, insomnia, etc)? 
4. Don’t reduce self-care because you are “too busy.” Self-care is a must during the holidays even if it is just 15 minutes a day. 
5. Find an outlet that you connect with. This might be journaling, which is not only an outlet, but it creates self-awareness. 

Remember the reason for the season and give glory to Him first and foremost. Everything else will just fall into place. 

And when something doesn’t go as planned, and it will, show yourself grace, let go, and give control to God!

Let's meet up again next week for another episode. Have a blessed week!