Believe it or not, the most stressful time of the year is the winter holidays. Making plans for Christmas and New Years, finding the perfect gifts, crowds, planning meals, making sure that you have a date for New Years, the list of reasons is endless. And in the end, for someone who is already depressed, it is very easy to find yourself much more depressed by life at this time of year. You might give presents and worry that you spent too much, or not enough. You might worry that people don't like the presents that you gave them.

Well stop.

This is meant to be a time of happiness and joy. It is not a time of stress, and worry. You can find tricks to help you relax through these times. The first is shopping online. Because there are no crowds, you will not have to worry about nervousness. The second is setting limits and feeling good about these limits. Decide how much to spend on people based on how much they spend on you, and how much you like the person. Find things within that limit and don't let yourself get talked into spending a

ny more. Spend some time thinking what you want to buy people and then rest assured that they will like what you get them. As long as you put thought into the gift it will be fine.

As for the stress of the family gatherings, the best way to handle these is not with alcohol. You should plan to spend some time doing breathing exercises before you go to the gatherings, and afterwards as well. Since these are times of stress, they generally lead to tense family parties and you might be better off trying to limit your time there. Plan to spend part of your evening with your family but make other plans if you know that it will be unhealthy for you to remain for too long.

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