Feeling a bit burnt out in the lead up to this holiday season? You’re not alone. This year has been overwhelming for many and with the festive season around the corner you might be sitting with a level of stress, unease, low mood or even burnout. So what can you do to move from anxiety and stress to resilience and recharge?

Fortunately, there are ways to successfully manage stress and anxiety throughout this busy time of year. Try the following four steps from the Mind Strength Method to help you to curb anxiety and stress, conquer worry and thrive through the festive season.

What’s the difference between stress and anxiety and when is it a problem?
Stress is the normal response our bodies have to any change. It can be positive or negative. It can help us rise to meet challenges. It is what keeps us on our toes, prevents us from making costly mistakes and sharpens our concentration. However, too much stress or experiencing stress over extended periods of time can leave us feeling frazzled, overloaded, exhausted, unappreciated, agitated or over-reactive.

When you experience anxiety and worry, your protector, the amygdala, takes over and directs you towards all kinds of fight or flight driven actions. While these actions may be helpful, even critical to survival, in times of real danger, they are unhelpful in response to a perceived threat or a worry thought. When you respond to a perceived threat as though it were real, you may find yourself engaging in ‘safety behaviours’.