Holiday Stress Management Tips for Highly Sensitive People

Holiday stress management tips for highly sensitive people

The holiday season can be one of the most stressful times of the year. With Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s all just around the corner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything we need to do. Every year, there’s shopping to finish, events to attend, and work responsibilities to manage. Add in family dynamics and you’ve got a recipe for burnout before the season even gets going. That’s why I want to share five ways to manage holiday stress and, ultimately, survive the next few weeks with more ease and calm.

1. Speak Up for Yourself

This is probably one of the hardest but most important lessons I’ve had to learn. Only you know how full your plate is. You know how many events, deadlines, fundraisers, and holiday prep tasks are on your list. No one else has that perspective, and unless you say something, they won’t understand how overwhelmed you might feel.

So here’s the first tip: it’s okay to say no.

And the best part? I recently published a whole list of different ways you can say no! You don’t need to over-explain or apologize. If someone asks for a favor or invites you to just one more holiday event, it’s okay to simply respond with, “No, I can’t.” If you’re like me and feel more comfortable explaining yourself, you could add, “I have too much going on, and I’m really sorry I can’t right now.” But either way, honor your own boundaries. Protecting your time and energy is not selfish; it’s essential.

2. Manage Your Stress Response

One of the most practical ways to handle stress is by managing how your body responds to it. Our bodies work in two modes: stressed or not stressed. You’ve probably heard of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our fight, flight, freeze or fawn responses. It’s the part of our brain that ramps up when we’re in danger or stressed out. Our heart beats faster, we breathe more quickly, and our bodies are preparing us to survive – but at the cost of clear, rational thinking.

When you’re in this mode, you’re not going to be thinking about the bigger picture or accessing your calm, objective mind. The opposite of this stress mode is the parasympathetic response – the rest-and-digest side, where our heart rate slows, and we can think more clearly. The fastest way to get your body out of that fight-or-flight state and back into calm mode is through breathing.

When my husband and I lived in Vancouver, I took the SkyTrain to work and had a stressful experience where I found myself on the wrong train, heading toward the wrong city. My stress response kicked into overdrive. But instead of panicking, I focused on my breath. I took slow, deep breaths and calmed myself down enough to figure out what I needed to do next. The same principle applies during the holiday season. Try taking five slow breaths for five seconds in and five seconds out, five times a day – when you wake up, before each meal, and before bed. This small practice will keep your stress response in check, so you can approach the season with more calm.

3. Embrace the Unexpected – Holiday Stress Management Tips for Highly Sensitive People

We all know things don’t always go as planned, especially around the holidays. One year, my mother-in-law booked a family portrait session for the fall in Calgary. The colors were perfect, and the weather was mild – but overnight, we went from fall to a foot and a half of snow! We had two choices: cancel the session and reschedule or embrace the unexpected. We chose the latter, and now I have some of the most memorable family photos, even if the snow angels were a bit funky.

The truth is, life will throw surprises at you during this season, whether it’s last-minute cancellations, changes in weather, or plans going off course. Instead of resisting those moments, embrace them. Sometimes, the unexpected leads to the best memories.

4. Book a Time to Recharge

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my early years of navigating the holidays was packing my schedule too tightly. When my husband and I flew back to Calgary from Kingston, where we were living at the time, we had every minute planned out. We had dinners and events scheduled with both families to ensure everything was “fair.” By the end of that first Christmas, I was completely exhausted, and I knew something had to change.

The next year, we made a point to schedule alone time for ourselves. We booked a dinner just the two of us, went on a Christmas Lights drive without anyone else, and even set aside time for a peaceful walk in a local park. Those little moments of quiet, in the middle of a hectic holiday trip, made all the difference. We didn’t come back feeling drained like we had the previous year. So I encourage you to do the same – book time to recharge between all the family visits and holiday events. Even 30 minutes of quiet can prevent burnout.

5. Keep Things in Perspective

This final point is the most personal for me. When I worked as a registered nurse in the ICU, I often worked over the holidays. One year, I was on shift on Christmas Eve, and my family was celebrating our big Polish dinner that night. I raced home after my 12-hour shift, ready to jump into the chaos of food prep, but what I walked into was overwhelming. People were shouting, pots were boiling over, and it felt like the world was ending – all because dinner was late and the fish was overcooked.

But earlier that day, my team and I had fought for two hours to save the life of an eight-year-old girl who had been perfectly healthy the day before. We did everything we could, but we couldn’t save her. And in that moment of chaos at home, I was struck by how trivial it all felt. The dinner, the arguments – none of it mattered compared to the fact that a family had just lost their daughter on Christmas Eve.

There’s a song by Sara Bareilles, one of my favorite Christmas songs, that goes:

“I don’t care if the house is packed or the strings of light are broken
I don’t care if the gifts are wrapped or there’s nothing here to open
Love is not a toy and no paper can conceal it.
Love is simply joy that I’m home.”

That lyric became my mantra that year. As we head into the holiday season, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Yes, there will be stress, things will go wrong, and not everything will be perfect. But at the end of the day, what matters most is the love we share with the people around us. No season can contain that.

Holiday Stress Management Tips for Highly Sensitive People

This holiday season, I invite you to try out these five strategies. Speak up for yourself, manage your stress, embrace the unexpected, book time to recharge, and keep it all in perspective. There’s beauty in the chaos – we just have to slow down enough to see it.