The holiday season is often filled with celebrations, family, friends, and lots of joy. However, December can also be an extremely stressful time – especially in schools. With final exams, the end of a marking period, personal obligations, schedule changes, and just general burn out, teachers and staff may feel a bit of heightened anxiety as they prepare for winter break. Not to mention the heightened sense of unknown a new calendar year (and students fresh off a long break from school) brings. We hope these simple tips can be another tool to help school staff, as well as families, cope with any additional worry brought on as we end 2024 and look forward to 2025.
Anxiety is universal and essential for survival (though coupled with worry it can also cause a host of negative mental and physical health outcomes, depression, headaches, trouble concentrating among them). As with any immune response, we can have too much of a good thing and we must sooth it into manageable levels. Because we are working against instinct to do this, purposeful practice is key. In times of heightened stress, it’s important to be able to cope. Some simple ways of coping include the following practices.
Relaxation
Our fight or flight stress hormones can evoke negative bodily reactions. That sense of alarm affects our thinking as the brain is signaled to activate excessive worry. It can also trigger our tendency to overestimate danger and underestimate our own ability to cope. All of this is natural when there is, let’s say a dangerous animal nearby, but rarely in day-to-day life. Relaxation offers a way to counter those stress hormones. Some productive practices include:
- Controlled breathing. There are many variations, but the essential components are a slow rate, especially in exhaling slower than you normally want and breathing fully, as if down to the belly. It is not a silver bullet. In fact, it may feel initially as if you are slightly more vulnerable. To be effective, continue for a full minute twice a day, plus every time you think of it.
- Physical activity or exercise. Think of it as a way of putting your stress hormones to good use. Flush that cortisol, while seeing yourself as an active agent of change. The smallest amount is better than none, and a little something nearly every day is better than occasional bursts.
- Enjoyable activities. Apart from our many hours of work, we need a balance of low-consequence pleasure. This reduces anxiety and depression, just as protein reduces hunger. Schedule at least one thing every day, and pay attention to tiny, momentary pleasures. Emphasize high-yield (a meal with a friend), over low-yield (television all weekend). Remember, because joy and relaxation in the face of stress is literally counter-instinctive, scheduled, purposeful effort is needed.
Reduce Worry
This is another counter-instinctive challenge. Rather than trying to directly limit worry (it’s impossible!), confront it by asking “what is the worst that might happen?” In a sense, this allows your mind to do what it is trying to – jump to catastrophic assumptions. It is better to meet and answer fears than try to push them out. Then, you can form responses:
- “If my worst-case scenario should really come to pass, how will I cope?” List all that you can or would do.
- “Meanwhile, what can I do today to avert the worst chain of events?” Among the many responses to this question, panic and sedation are never on the list.
Damage Control
Take care not to fan your own flames with high-consequence coping. The over-use of alcohol and other chemicals is a clear example. Social withdrawal – or taking no moments for rest and privacy – is another.
Name it and Tame it
Because anxiety shouts, it displaces the other emotions. Recognizing the softer ones helps balance the amplification. Simply try employing your whole vocabulary, for example, using this list to find the word to identify what you feel at any moment.
Values-Based Pursuits
What would you do if anxiety wasn’t occupying your energy and bandwidth? Whether it’s home relationships, community, faith, exercise, study, arts, or whatever values you hold high, don’t give anxiety the power to take you from them.
Discover Opportunity
Highly disrupted times are often when communities coalesce. Amidst stress, pain, and wrenching loss, our shared purpose in confronting adversity also gives rise to sudden leaps of innovation. We may experience profound collaboration and witness – or model – grace, citizen leadership, and quiet acts of unsung heroism. Seek and seize your opportunities to shine.
