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
Practice coping mechanisms, including renewing spirituality.
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You’ve already explored coping methods that worked for you in the past. Perhaps there are additional ones that would be helpful through the holidays. For example:
- Meditation: This combination of relaxation and self-awareness can bring a peaceful feeling. Spending even just five minutes at a time meditating can help you de-stress. For information about meditation, click here.
- Yoga: Yoga has been practiced for years as a means to improve physical and emotional well being. It can help with mood, sleep quality, and in reducing feelings of stress. It reconnects you and quiets the mind. For an overview about yoga, click here.
- Listening to soothing music, or sipping tea are also good ways to relax and reduce stress.
- Journaling helps deal with your feelings and “unload.” In turn, this reduces stress. For information about keeping a journal, click here.
- Making a “gratitude list” in this season of giving is another good way to clear our heads of all the tasks on the “to-do list” that increase our stress. A gratitude list helps us look at the present and realize what’s most important in our lives. For information about keeping a gratitude journal, click here
- Renew your spiritual beliefs by spending time in contemplation of religion and/or spirituality or participating in religious activities. Cancer seems to open conversations about spirit and spiritual needs. Spirit is an integral part of the Body-Mind-Spirit healing that focuses on the whole person, and often becomes more prominent in the face of a cancer diagnosis. Research shows that benefits from religion and/or spirituality include improved coping, reduced stress, a deeper understanding about life and death, and an improved quality of life. (For additional information about spirituality, click here.)
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