Anxiety about Christmas expenses: why it arises and how to combat it

The management of Christmas purchases, both for gifts and for dinners and family gatherings and their logistics, is much more than an intellectual challenge. It is also a challenge for our ability to manage our emotions and our stress levels. For this reason, in this article I will talk about one of the most underestimated phenomena of these dates: Anxiety about Christmas expenses, and how to deal with it.

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What are the causes of anxiety about Christmas expenses?

Anxiety is, in most cases, something positive; Or at least useful. It helps us to stay activated and alert in situations that require our attention and a certain ability to react quickly.

However, sometimes we are not able to adequately handle anxiety and we enter into a vicious circle of self-sabotage that leads us to worry more and more about our difficulties to progress and make decisions with the fluidity and confidence that need.

That is why many people feel anxious at the prospect of having to make extra expenses for the Christmas holidays, on dates marked by consumerism. How to buy everything we need by finding

a balance between what we can afford, on the one hand, and the expectations we have generated for ourselves and that we have generated for others, on the other?

Beyond this situation that triggers anxiety problems, there are several causes that combine:

• The idea of ​​the Christmas holidays as dates in which everyone offers their best version to others.
• The prospect of meeting people we haven't seen for a long time.
• The bombardment of advertising that acts as a reminder that these are days to spend much more than the rest of the year.
• Problems finding certain products that hit the market on these dates (sometimes through an artificial scarcity marketing strategy).

• You may be interested in: "What is anxiety: how to recognize it and what to do"

What to do before this?

Although each case is unique and the most effective solutions are those that adapt to the particularities of each one, These general tips may help you. when dealing with anxiety linked to Christmas expenses.

1. Bet on creative gifts

It is undeniable that there is high social pressure towards the tendency to spend a lot of money on gifts to gain the acceptance and affection of others; However, not everything has to obey this highly consumerist logic. There are gifts that, precisely because they are based on one's own creativity and not because of buying something already finished as a "polished" product, They have a great capacity to like and strengthen those affective ties with others.

This type of gift can range from short stories with the person to whom we give it as the protagonist, to a set of relatively cheap and offered in the form of a "kit" (for example, "medical student survival kit"), through drawings, invitations to own events, etc

• Related article: "What is creativity? Are we all "would-be geniuses"?"

2. Set weekly spending ceilings

Setting spending maximums in advance is a great way to not only keep track of how we manage our personal finances, but also to give us peace of mind at a time of year marked by rapid variations in the amount in the bank account. It is true that this is an "extra" task that implies having to worry about it enough to carry it out, but it brings more positive than negative elements in relation to the prevention of anxiety. It is a way to clear up our doubts about whether we are doing it right in a matter of seconds.

In addition, through their mobile app, some banks offer the possibility of establishing sub-categories within our bank account, to allocate from the beginning the amounts that we can dedicate to each stuff.

In this way, we will not constantly worry about not being very sure if we make it to the end of the month.

3. Take care

Eating a relatively balanced diet and, above all, getting enough sleep is something that protects us from excess stress. But during Christmas vacations and family reunions, this costs more, since there is a greater variability of hours and food. Although it is not bad to "break the rules" of the routine on time, this should not be the norm.

On the other hand, beyond getting enough sleep and eating right, exercising regularly is an excellent way to release tension and leave behind intrusive thoughts associated with stress, by linking ourselves to the here and now.

• You may be interested in: "10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them to your life"

4. Avoid “desperate” investments at all costs

In this context, some people fall into the trap of experimenting by investing money in assets capable of bring them a relatively high profit in a matter of weeks (for example, some cryptocurrencies or games NFT). The main problem is that These types of investments are precisely the most risky and the ones that are most likely to make us lose practically all the money put into them. But that's not the worst: as they have high volatility, they will exert a stressful effect on a person already exposed to anxiety, since that you will be constantly checking the rises and falls of the value of your investment, consulting forums in case the value collapses, etc

• Related article: "What is impulsiveness? Its causes and effects on behavior"

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Am Dove King Cardona, General Health Psychologist, and I can assist you in person or in the online therapy modality.