With Thanksgiving this week, the jokes about family squabbles around the Thanksgiving table abound. This time of year can be stressful, especially since everyone’s schedules are even more packed than normal with shopping, family get togethers, travel, parties, school events, exams, projects and more. With all of the extra obligations, it is easy to find that your temper is shorter than normal and that you tend to get irritated and annoyed much more easily than usual. Arguments with family members often increase as the stress increases.
If you find yourself getting into frequent arguments with your kids, spouse, partner or other family member, you may want to try a time out. Now, this is not the kind of time out, where you send your kids to their rooms to “think about what they have done”. This is a time out for you. When you feel that your anger and frustration is climbing to dangerous levels, give yourself a time out to separate yourself from the situation. Let your family member know that you need a time out. Go into a separate room, where you can have some peace and quiet and take 10-15 minutes to do a little breathing and allow yourself to release some of the tension from the situation.
When you take a time out, you will find that allowing yourself to decompress before confronting the situation often prevents you from saying things out of anger that you simply don’t mean. It allows you to deal with situations in a much healthier way, for you and your loved one.
This simple trick will help not only to reduce your stress, but it can also improve your relationships. Try it the next time that you feel an argument coming on. Your health will be better for it!
Tags: Stress, stress management tips, stress managements, stress relief, Stress Relief Tips