Getting ready for Thanksgiving and the holidays brings added stress, with the added duties of cooking, hosting family and decorating.
We all want the perfect Instagram-worthy celebration, and in doing so often in a season of giving grace, show little to ourselves. Vianey Reinhardt, a licensed professional counselor, at Connections Wellness Group, stresses the importance of not focusing on shortcomings during the holidays and celebrating our personal achievements.
“One of the realities as humans is that we are very good at attending to the things that aren’t going right,” Reinhardt said. “We can allow that to crowd out the opportunity to have a level of gratitude and level of appreciation for the things that are going right.”
To help yourself and find balance during the holidays, Reinhardt suggests focusing on gratitude. As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s the perfect time to work in an exercise she picked up from a speaker.
“There was an exercise in gratitude where you practice on a daily basis identifying three things that happened during your day that you are thankful for,” Reinhardt explained. “If something went well, an interaction that you had was positive, or an accomplishment big or small, appreciate whatever it was. She said in that practice of just those three things at the end of the day, she noticed she began to look for those opportunities to be grateful during the day.”
Don’t get too caught up with social media clips of perfect holiday settings or trying to keep up with the neighbors.
“I actually just used this quote with my daughter, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,'” Reinhardt said. “When we live our lives comparing ourselves to other people instead of reveling in our own accomplishments and appreciating what we have.”
Volunteering and giving to charitable outlets is another way to show gratitude and help your own well-being during the holidays. Reinhardt explains in giving to others, you find purpose and value.
She also said simple gestures of expressing appreciation for others and extolling compliments can also start what she described as a “ripple effect.”
“Chances are they’ll give you something back and they may move forward to give somebody else something,” Reinhardt said. “That’s a wonderful way to begin a great cascade of good things.”