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I realize it’s a little ridiculous for me to be posting about holiday shopping anxiety when I’ve been blatantly shoving gift guides at you for the past week, but there’s something I’ve got to get off my chest.
For the past few years, I’ve noticed that I tend to get fairly anxious or stressed around the holidays—something that I don’t think is too uncommon. Whether it’s splitting up our time with our families or trying to round up Christmas presents, I always feel some degree of stress and anxiety coupled with consumer pressure to buy, buy, BUY. Honestly, there is nothing that disgusts me more than the IDEA of Black Friday—let alone the execution of the event. It’s abhorrent. It’s ridiculous. It’s people lining up to buying TVs at 10 pm on Thanksgiving Day. Yet, despite the fact that I hate the entire idea of the whole thing, there is certainly some part of me that is susceptible to this massive shopping competition that holiday shopping has turned into. It’s not just Black Friday. There are a million sales to keep track of, stores to check off a list, “flash sales” that are happening. It’s a total cluster and I hate the fact that I even feel the little bit of compulsion I do to get out in the thick of it to try and score 45% off a sweater I didn’t even need.
On the other hand, with every passing holiday, the reason that I celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas becomes more and more apparent—and totally separate from the commercialism that is threatening to engulf more and more of the last two to three months of our calendar years. This is not to say that I don’t buy presents for friends and family—I do. But, I’m trying to stick to a little plan that I’ve tentatively entitled Jackie’s Holiday Sanity Plan.
- S - Spend time with loved ones and friends and value that above all else.
- A - Avoid anxiety about which family gets more or less of our time around the holidays. We can never please everyone perfectly, so we need to make plans that make sense for us and let everything else fall into place accordingly.
- N - Never, ever “seriously” shop on Black Friday or engage in a holiday shopping competition. After a leisurely breakfast, if we want to go wander through the remnants of Target’s bargain bins, so be it. But shopping before 5 am, 6 am—hell, 10 am—is just asking for panic attacks and misery.
- I - Indulge myself in ways that don’t revolve around shopping. I like watching marathons of our favorite holiday movies with favorite snacks or driving around the neighborhood and looking at Christmas decorations.
- T - Try to remember that gift giving should be about doing something thoughtful, not what is expected or what is popular.
- Y - You are the only one that determines whether or not you have a fulfilling holiday season. You can choose to give in to the stress and competitiveness, or choose to ignore it as best you can. This is incredibly hard for me to do. I want everything to be perfect…and I don’t even have a child yet! Imagine me next year. But, I’m going to try…and trying is half the battle, right?
So, as we enter one of the most crazy, over-hyped and over-wrought weeks of the year, join me in my attempt to keep a level head and a (mostly) closed wallet until we’ve had a successful close to Thanksgiving. There’s plenty of goods to go around and plenty of shopping time left. This week is all about the two “Fs” for me: family and food. Friday doesn’t even factor in.
How are you coping with holiday anxiety so far?
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