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Stress Management Training Skills and DevelopmentSee Stress
Management - Are You Under Pressure? Find the next available Open Stress Management Skills Course And next available Open Assertiveness Skills Course Or next available Open Time Management Course You might also be interested in the next available Open Personal Impact Course Read the article called Stress and Pressure For a practical approach to Saying No see Assertiveness Skills - The Art of Saying No For an in depth look at Assertiveness Skills read Is Assertiveness the Only Way If you want to know more about our training programmes have a look at our Communication Skills Key Issues page Stress Management Training Skills and Development |
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Stress Management at Christmas
Impact Factory runs tailored
Stress Management programmes
We also run Public Stress Management Courses
and personalised One-to-One Executive Coaching
for anyone who is interested in Stress Management Issues
Jo Ellen Grzyb's Five Point Plan on How To Survive Christmas
Getting ready to do the same Christmas routine as last year and the year before that and all the years before that? Dreading being in the same room with members of your family you just don't like? Bringing your new girlfriend home to 'meet the parents' for the first time? Help is at hand! You don't have to endure Christmas this year, you can actually start thinking now about how to make it a lot more heavenly and a lot less hellish.
Jo Ellen Grzyb's Five Point Plan on How To Survive Christmas
Getting ready to do the same Christmas routine as last year and the year before that and all the years before that?
Dreading being in the same room with members of your family you just don't like?
Bringing your new girlfriend home to 'meet the parents' for the first time?
Worried about just how embarrassing they can be? Help is at hand!
You don't have to endure Christmas this year, you can actually start thinking now about how to make it a lot more heavenly and a lot less hellish.
Preparation and Planning
You can start by deciding right now when you're going to arrive at your parents' and how long you plan to stay. Then tell them. Right now. Don't wait till you walk in the door three hours after they expected you. Give them plenty of time to get used to the idea that you won't be arriving on Christmas Eve and staying through Boxing Day! Stick to your schedule. If you say you're arriving at 10, arrive at 10; if you tell them you're staying till 4, stay till 4. Present your plan in a positive way, "It's great I can be with you for Christmas Lunch," rather than, "I can only stay a couple of hours, awright?"
Preventing Embarrassing Moments
Learn the art of pre-empting. For many of you, you know your parents are going to indulge in embarrassing moments: horrible stories of what you did as a kid or hauling out excruciating childhood photos. If you get in first, there's less chance they can embarrass you. You can kick off "Have you heard the one about me getting nicked for shoplifting?" before they have a chance to open their mouths. You can take charge by finding the photo album and deciding which photos are going to be shown, so no one has to sit through pages of ancient history. The idea is that whatever embarrassing things they usually do, you can forestall them by deciding who's going to hear and see what rather than being annoyed ("Oh Muuuuum!") and making them feel bad.Take a Breather
When you just can't take it any more, take a break: go to the loo, have a cuppa and hide out in a bedroom, take a walk to the end of the road. Grumble to yourself, not to anyone else. You could think of this as the equivalent of counting to ten, but in this instance you get yourself out of the line of fire. You don't need to make a big deal of it, like walking off in a huff, but sometimes absenting yourself so you can have a good inward moan allows you to let off steam (or you could phone a friend and whinge as well).Change Your Routine
One of the reasons Christmas can feel such a drag is that everyone does the same old routine, eats the same dinner, has the same squabble (or worse). This year, try something different - suggest an alternative menu (unless you really, really do want Brussels sprouts), book a pub lunch, avoid vegging out on the sofa, shock your mother by offering to do the washing up. You can do just about anything different and it will have an impact on how the day goes. It can also have a knock-on affect with other family members who might become more creative too.Let Them Make a Fuss
You could just let them carry on being who they are. This can feel quite difficult, but after all, it's unlikely they're going to change all that much, and your wishing they'd be more like you'd like them to be isn't going to work. I've seen too many people get impatient with their parents, when all their parents want is to have everyone get on with each other. That may be a bit of wishful thinking for many families, but you could make it easier by not falling into the trap of letting them see how annoyed you are with their behaviour. In other words, cut them a little slack and just you might have a better time than you expect!Jo Ellen Grzyb, a counsellor/psychotherapist is the author of Family Heaven Family Hell - How to survive the family get-together, published by Fusion Press. She is also Co-Director of Impact Factory, a professional personal development company (www.impactfactory.com).
