Life Tips Daily

I thought that since I am one of the worst offenders of the crime known as worrying, I’d let you in on something that I just read.

Apparently something like 90% of things that you worry about don’t come to pass! For the chronic worriers among us, this is a very eye-opening statistic! So, join me and let’s stop worrying together. Instead, let’s do some of the following to make our countdown to Christmas much more pleasant.

Worry: Christmas dinner will be a disaster because the two siblings who always make a scene by having a huge fight will be coming, and their grudge has only grown worse over the past year.

Antidote: Send both an email or call them both up and let them know that you are expecting them to treat the other guests with respect, and they can do this by allowing Christmas to be about family, love and warmth, instead of being another stage on which to play out their feud. Let them know that you will do your part and ensure that they aren’t seated close to each other, but other than that it’s up to them to be mature about it. Tell each that you don’t want them to explain themselves to you; you have told them all you plan to say on the topic. Then drop it and count on them to do their part.

Worry: Someone you haven’t thought of will stop by at your house and drop off a present for you and you won’t have one to give in return.

Antidote: First of all, remember that Christmas is about warmth and love, and if someone gives you a gift, your job is to accept it and be appreciative of it. Christmas is not about feeling guilty and upset, so instead of exclaiming “but I didn’t get you anything!”, and ruining the moment by making about you, express genuine gratitude and let that be your gift to the other person.

If you absolutely must give a gift, you can do what some have gotten in the habit of doing: buy some neutral gifts, wrapg them and affix a gift tag to it with your name already signed (keep the same pen handy so you can fill in the name of the recipient before presenting the gift). This can backfire though: if someone presents you with a gift that they obviously spent a lot of time and effort to select, and you present them with a box of chocolates, no matter how carefully chosen and high in quality they are, you might feel even worse! A more genuine idea in my opinion is to give them a gift, but in the new year. Why not call them up to go for dinner in January, or invite them over for wine and dessert in February? The fact that it might be unexpected might make them appreciate it more.