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Featured Articles from Previous Months: January: Keeping New Year's Resolutions February: How Healthy is Your Relationship? March: Be Your Own Nurturing Parent April: Listen, Don't Solve May: Paradigm Shift June: Getting Out of a Rut July: Let it Go! August: Helicopter Parents September: Don't Believe Everything You Think October: Search for Meaning November: Young, Bored and Floundering
Featured ArticleJune: Get Over It Already!Follow me on:
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‘Tis the Season To Be AnxiousThe holiday season is here - and there goes your sanity! Well, maybe not entirely but it sure seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? The holiday message is omnipresent and omnipotent. You’ve got to Shop till you Drop. And Hurry Up! Bargains are quickly being snatched up by others. And you, you fool, will be left with nothing but leftovers unless you move your booty – NOW! Maybe this year you’ve made a promise to yourself that you won’t join the frenzy festivities. Still, a mind is a terrible thing to change. Though you decide to ‘chill out’, ‘hang loose’, live by a ‘whatever’ philosophy, it’s not so easy to implement. Not when your mind is on anxiety autopilot letting loose the mental gremlins that chastise you as you attempt to change. “You can’t change just like that. Sure, you want to. But what are others going to think? They’re expecting exciting stuff. They’re expecting traditional chow. They’re expecting you to be who you’ve always been.” Before you know it, "chilling out" moves out and “have-to guilt” moves in. You consider blowing off the guilt with a “not guilty” plea. You won’t do what you’re expected to do this year. But how can you pull it off? How about the ‘insanity’ defense? Or the ‘not feeling well’ defense? Or the ‘it’s just too much’ defense? Or the ‘lack of time’ defense? Damn, even the ‘Twinkie’ defense seems appealing to you now. But no - you’re stuck with your guilt which triggers your anxiety. Or is it the other way around? No matter. Let’s not fight the inevitable: ‘tis the season to be anxious. Though you may not escape it altogether, you can let your anxiety stay only for a short visit. That’s not so bad. Even Moses was a temporary basket case. But make sure you don’t let anxiety take up permanent residence in your brain during this holiday season - or at any other time. “Tis the wisdom of the season.” Copyright 2009: Linda Sapadin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice who specializes in helping individuals, families and couples overcome self-defeating patterns of behavior. Subscribe to Dr Sapadin's PsyhcWisdom Columns [click here] |
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