Content Overview 
- Summary
- Revise holiday activities to fit your current physical and emotional condition and to include people you care about. Don't over extend yourself..
- Look at past holiday stressors to see what has previously helped you cope and move forward.
- If you are in treatment, talk to your doctor about taking time off during the holidays or changing your schedule.
- Keep your expectations realistic.
- Prioritize your activities.
- If you're not physically or emotionally up to going shopping, or you are not allowed in holiday crowds, shop online or from catalogues.
- If a money crunch is causing stress, focus on the real meaning of the holiday. Reign in spending with a budget.
- Live healthy. Don't over indulge. Exercise. Get rest.
- If you are dealing with grief, use the holidays to help finish your grieving.
- Share your feelings. As Art Linkletter said, "Laughter is the best medicine." It's okay to cry.
- Build in alone time
- Practice forgiveness
- If you're lonely... get busy. Consider volunteering.
- Accept what you can't change.
- If you make resolutions, keep them doable.
- Practice coping mechanisms, including renewing spirituality.
- If seasonal decrease in sunlight causes you to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), get treatment.
- If you are going to travel, talk with your doctor about any special travel needs. Prepare.
- Use the holiday as a time to share memories and to make new ones.
- If none of the above work for you, call your doctor or other medical practitioner.
How To Cope With Holiday Stress & Depression & Colorectal Cancer
Prioritize your activities.
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Make a list of what you want to get done and prioritize the list. Set a realistic time table. Realize it doesn’t all have to get done. Plus, as you cross things off your list, you’ll have a greater sense of accomplishment. (For help creating the list, we provide a Prioritizer. Add "to do" items as you think of them. Prioritize each item. With the click of a button, your list changes to your priority. You can change priorities just as easily over time.)
Let others help you. When people know specifically how they can help, they feel more comfortable. Prioritize and delegate. You or a frirend can set up a schedule of the tasks that need to be done and the people who will do them. There are web sites that make this easy to do. For example, www.LotsAHelpingHands.com 
Many people’s holiday stress seems to come from trying to juggle too many activities. Use discretion and do what you can based on your physical and emotional ability.
Simplify.
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