Christmas season is here! Is this a cause of stress or joy?

Christmas season is here! Is this a cause of stress or joy?

#BeavertonHealth&Happiness

 

Okay, you survived Halloween and you are working to recover from Thanksgiving. Now it’s Christmas season and the stress seems to be piling up even more! Last month we discussed how not to ‘wear the holidays after they are over.’ Now that we are in the middle of the holidays, it’s a matter of just getting through in order to start the new year on the right foot.

 

The big question left unasked:

Is the Christmas season a cause of stress or joy? You may suspect the answer: “It depends on your focus!”

On one hand we could focus on the stress side of the season. Buying gifts for everyone you know, including people you don’t see but once a year. Crushing your budget because you feel obligated to buy gifts beyond your comfort level or means. Rushing home from work to change your clothes to head off to one of many holiday parties, sometimes leaving your family only to come home exhausted and struggle through the next day, or days. Or perhaps you have volunteered yourself beyond your mental and physical threshold. This version creates a lot of stress!

A more positive approach would be to consider the joys of the season. As a reminder, it is not about presents and eating. Once we look beyond the gift wrap and snow scenes, this is a time of year when family and community should pause to reflect on what is important.

Maybe gather with a few friends over coffee, or appetizers and such, and share about what is going on in your life. Or you can get some people together and sing carols in your neighborhood. Instead of running around from store to store looking for presents, you can make a coupon book for tasks to help one another. (Kids, you could have a coupon for taking out the trash without complaining…)

Christmas is not about presents and stress, it is about reflecting on connections. In the Christian faith, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of the Christ child and the relationship we have with Him. Regardless of your religious beliefs, a key point of this season is about relationships. With all that has been and is going on locally and around the world, now more than ever we need to come together and support one another. This is a perfect time of year to look around and connect with those you hold most dear.

As a chiropractor, I can’t talk about ‘connections’ without discussing the connection between the brain and the body. The brain controls the function and repair of the body through the nervous system. When there is an interference in the connection from/to the brain, the body doesn’t work as well as it could.

Keep in mind that stresses from your environment – traumas, toxins, and thoughts set you up for this interference. The job of a chiropractor is to locate these areas of interference and put together a plan with you to improve the connections in your body.

With the year coming to a close, be sure to spend time on your connections – with one another and within.

Blessings, Dr. Dan

 

Dr. Dan Miller has been serving the Beaverton area since 1992. He has long held the belief that good health begins before birth. For more information, visit his website at: www.BeavertonFamilyChiropractic.com