Tausi Insider

For many of us, the holiday season brings added responsibilities, obligations, and the unspoken pressure of perfection. “The most wonderful time of the year” can be an especially anxious time for those with high-functioning anxiety. “High-functioning anxiety refers to someone who appears to be managing their life very well and have everything put together, however, they still suffer from excessive worry, stress, and at times obsessive thoughts,” Dr. Amelia Kelley , a trauma-informed therapist and co-author of What I Wish I Knew: Surviving and Thriving After an Abusive Relationship , explains to TausiInsider. “The holidays can worsen anxiety especially for those who appear high-functioning on the outside because of the amount of expectations and obligations that occur during the holidays [particularly when it comes to socializing and showing up for other people].” Additionally, financial pressure and the “intensified pressure and break from normalcy can also negatively impact our he...

Photo : Dragana Gordic ( Shutterstock ) You might fantasize about living a  stress-free life, the reality is that stress is as inescapable as the need to eat and drink. R ather than avoiding it altogether, the focus should be on finding ways of managing it. “Stress reduction implies we can reduce the number of stressful events that happens to us,” said Elissa Epel, a researcher at University of California, San Francisco, and the author of the book The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease . “That is not the best goal to have, because we will always have many different types of stressors in our lives.” Rather than trying to get rid of stress altogether, it’s a far more realistic goal to increase our stress resilience. Stress resilience is the ability to face stress and recover from it, and, as Epel points out, the ability to relax when nothing is happening. As with so many other aspects of life, stress resilience is something that we can get better at with practi...

Photo : Dragana Gordic ( Shutterstock ) You might fantasize about living a  stress-free life, the reality is that stress is as inescapable as the need to eat and drink. R ather than avoiding it altogether, the focus should be on finding ways of managing it. “Stress reduction implies we can reduce the number of stressful events that happens to us,” said Elissa Epel, a researcher at University of California, San Francisco, and the author of the book The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease . “That is not the best goal to have, because we will always have many different types of stressors in our lives.” Rather than trying to get rid of stress altogether, it’s a far more realistic goal to increase our stress resilience. Stress resilience is the ability to face stress and recover from it, and, as Epel points out, the ability to relax when nothing is happening. As with so many other aspects of life, stress resilience is something that we can get better at with practi...