It’s that time of the year again where whether you’re single or in a relationship, it can bring about an incredible amount of anxiety. You’re anxious about the gifts you’ll need to buy and how you can impress the people in your village or how you can measure up to everyone and everything else.

In December, there’s this whole spiritual, religious and even emotional level of highness. I mean I get that as the year comes to an end, it’s natural to be reflective but what I don’t get is why we allow what is just another month in the year to put us under so much pressure and get us feeling all stressed out and driving us crazy. I mean some of us are so anxious about the month and season that we aren’t even looking forward to it. What I’ve noticed, is that the month of December infact Christmas to be precise comes with a special kind of anxiety. We pile on just way too much expectations and build up this month into more than it is. We criticise and judge ourselves by holding us up to comparison with ‘everyone else’ and then suddenly have this thought that we’re the only ones who have a family that don’t have the type of Christmas that could be featured on Tv. You’re suddenly craving love so you start getting tempted to call that ex up. Santa says ‘don’t do it’. It’s the time of year when we expect the miraculous; we overspend, dread having to deal with family and imagine all sorts of scenarios that wind us up, and keep wondering if this could be the year when our family suddenly becomes the ones we’ve always envisioned. When we think that that cheat spouse would see the light and change.

Remember not everything you see on the internet (social media) is true. People tend to do way more than, just for the gram; retweets and likes. Don’t let all that ‘we are so happy’ ‘we are having an amazing time’ fool you into thinking that your life is the worse. We start getting sold Christmas from as early as October and if you don’t have the presence of mind to remember who you are, your values, and the fact that there’s eleven months in the year, you just might end up doing something stupid in the ‘short term’ that is Christmas that’ll leave you with a medium to long-term hangover either financially or emotionally; even mentally.

It’s just the holidays. It’s just Christmas. Yes it can be a pain in the ass if your family are a bit annoying and descend into arguments at the dinner table (remember no family is perfect and think about the people who don’t even have family to celebrate with) or you feel as if it highlights everything that’s missing from your life, but don’t get things twisted – it’s just a few weeks and you can make them as big or small as you want to, but whatever you do, put yourself in the driving seat of your own life.

Santa says ‘don’t fret it’s just Christmas’. Relax! Stop stressing.

Have a wonderful time of the year *wink wink*