This Is How To Keep Your Family From Driving You Crazy Over The Holidays

1.Avoid Being Pressured into Hosting at Your House

Recently, I was talking to some friends who’ve been having a bit of a financially stressful time over the past several months. When I asked them what their plans were for Thanksgiving, I chuckled a bit when they said that some family members told them that they were coming to their city (and house) but they’re not sure if they are okay with that. Y’all, ain’t it wild how many people will just presume that they can stay at your place whenever they want to without thinking about — shoot, not just the cost but the imposition by coming from such an entitled space?

Anyway, my chuckle elevated to a laugh when the husband said that he wasn’t too stressed about it because if he did oblige, 72 hours firm is all he had to offer.

Look, I get it, because I’m not big on visitors myself. In part, because certain people who have stayed with me in the past think that they are “low-maintenance” when that couldn’t be further from the truth. And so, if I’m going to be the-hostess-with-the-mostest, five days is all I’ve got to take you to all the places you want to go, let you monopolize my electronic devices, and listen to you talk about stuff that, sometimes, I couldn’t care less about.

Bottom line here — you’re grown and having folks in your house, for whatever the season or reason should be seen as a privilege on their part. So, if you don’t think that you’re up to hosting this year, remember what novelist Anne Lamott once said: “’No’ is a complete sentence,” then follow that up with the wisdom of the individual who said that anyone who is looking for an explanation for your boundaries is usually looking for a loophole in them too. SMDH.

Y’all, hosting should be a pleasure, not something you feel pressured to do. If the latter is what’s going on — YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT.

2.Don’t LISTEN to Everything That Is Said

Personally, I’m not someone who believes that seniors/elders are too old to change. As long as someone has breath in their body, they can choose to be(come) a better person. At the same time, it is also my belief that since a lot of folks don’t subscribe to this way of thinking, older individuals will sometimes manipulate their way into saying whatever, whenever, however, and then acting like folks should just take it as a sign of “respecting” them.

Honey, the Golden Rule of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” doesn’t have an age range on it; it applies to everyone. Unfortunately, some folks are not elevated in their thinking, so they seem to find an odd sense of pleasure in gaslighting and triggering folks. One way to handle them without all hell breaking loose is to practice the art of hearing without listening.

What’s the difference? Hearing is when you acknowledge what is being said on a very surface level while listening is when you fully take something into your psyche. That said, when your great-aunt is back on some you’re too old to be single, and, in a minute, no one is going to want to marry you, hear her without listening. For one thing, she doesn’t know enough about your life to draw such drastic conclusions.

Secondly, never allow anyone to rattle you to the point where you start to question your own life and reality. When you hear, you can shrug her off and walk into the next room, so that she can focus on low-key tormenting someone else. If you listen, that’s how you can find yourself being so hurt or offended that the rest of your day is ruined.

When it comes to cyclic nonsense, it isn’t worth it, chile. Let it go…in one ear and right out of the other.

3.Choose Your Battles

A few days ago, I actually watched a cute Christmas movie on Tubi entitled A Verry Merry Hood Christmas. In case you want to check it out, I won’t give the storylines away. What I will say is there were all kinds of examples of what happens when folks don’t choose their battles; 8 times outta 10, whenever that happens, it damn near turns things into a war. For instance, if you’re not a Christian, why get into debates about “the true meaning of Christmas”?

Whoever you voted for, I don’t even care for this phrase, yet it really “is what it is” at this point, so why get angry? You’ve been married for a while and don’t want kids? You don’t have to prove why you feel that way. Just bought a car and your uncle wants to take it upon himself to berate you about the economy? Just eat some pie and do the hearing thing that we just talked about.

My point here is we’re all individuals which means that we’re not going to agree on everything. My bigger point? Even if you win an argument, it’s not like there’s a $1 million check waiting for you. If you really want to experience “peace and goodwill,” choose your battles. Straight up.

4.Going Elsewhere? Nap. Meditate. No Sugar and/or Alcohol Beforehand.

Contrary to however your loved ones try to make you feel when people are in your house, you can set whatever rules/boundaries that you would like. When you’re going over to someone else’s place, though? Yeah…not so much. And if you already sense that there is potential for you having to use up more energy (or self-control) than you would like, there are a few things that you should consider doing before heading out of the door.

First, if you’re already a bit sleep-deprived (for whatever the reason), take a nap. Naps reduce stress, make you more alert, and help to boost your mood. Once you wake up, do 10 minutes or so of meditation. Meditating also relieves stress and anxiety, strengthens your willpower, and helps you to have more compassion toward others (well looka there — LOL).

And finally, try and keep sugar and alcohol to a minimum. Sugar is a stimulant that can make you feel good for a moment and then not so good once you crash from the rush. And alcohol? I mean, most of us have a relative who gets drunk AF over the holidays. It might be funny but it’s also hella awkward and sometimes leads to unnecessary drama. Why create what can be avoided?

5.Manage Your Expectations

One of my favorite husbands has been married for about 20 years now. He always makes me laugh when he tells me what he says to his wife whenever she finds herself comparing them to other couples or she’s impatient about something that she wants: “Babe, you really need to lower your expectations.” And you know what? It works. LOL.

For any of you who want to challenge his statement, there is absolutely nothing wrong with lowering expectations — when they are unrealistic to begin with. And when it comes to this article, specifically, expecting people to be any different than they’ve been, shoot, ever since you’ve known them, is only setting you up to be frustrated…if not flat-out mad.

It is actually the actor Bruce Lee who once said, “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine” and, have mercy, I can only imagine how smoothly family/holiday events would go if everyone maintained that mindset while spending time with each other people. Try applying this mantra this year. See how it goes.

6.Know Your Limits (and Honor Them)

Boundaries are limits and there really is no point in having any if you’re not going to honor them — and by honoring them, that means articulating them and being okay with providing a “cause and effect” if they are violated. And what kind of boundaries should you consider setting?

Being someone’s child, grandchild, niece, etc. doesn’t make you A CHILD. Therefore, refuse to be spoken to in a way that is patronizing or condescending or that makes you think that someone’s advice is a directive. At this point in the game, it’s not.

Don’t say “yes” to something if you don’t really want to do it. Yes, you’re going to have to compromise; however, if you are being asked — or worse, told — to do something that you absolutely don’t want to do and yet fear or guilt is motivating you to do it, you are always going to be disrespected in this way. “Yes” is your right. “No” is too. Never forget that.

Refuse to overextend yourself. Spending more money than you have. Going above and beyond to the point where it’s going to take you two weeks to recover once the holidays are over. Doing things that will cause you to feel nothing more than resentful the entire time — none of this is healthy for your mind, body, or spirit — so why do it? All of us have a bandwidth. Constantly going past it is actually a form of disrespect.

Plan out responses for the out-of-pocket people. If for the past five years, your mother-in-law has said something crazy about your weight or mothering skills, don’t bite your tongue or rail on your husband afterward like you always do. This year, think about what an appropriate response would be (like “I really wish you wouldn’t bring that up anymore. It makes me uncomfortable.”). Oftentimes, what makes mountains out of molehills when it comes to dealing with family is people react out of emotion rather than logic and facts.

When someone runs over a boundary, address it. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing while expecting the same result, right? Keeping that in mind, I am a firm believer that it gets to the disrespect portion of the program once a boundary has been stated and then someone overrides it. So, if you’ve let people know a limit and they pretty much convey that they don’t care by being dismissive of it, don’t let it slide — bring it to their attention.

Whether they need time to adjust or they need to realize that not everyone is just gonna let them do…whatever, you deserve to enjoy the holidays knowing you’re going to be around people who are safe enough to respect your (reasonable) requests.

7.Reward Yourself Before — and After

Please don’t feel bad if you’ve got some relatives that you love yet don’t like very much because more people actually feel this way than they would care to admit. Instead, if you know that you are going to have to be around those individuals this holiday season, plan a way to reward yourself for not dodging them before you see them and then for acting like a mature adult after interacting with them too.

Reward literally means “something given or received in return or recompense for service, merit, hardship, etc.” and when you decide to exercise self-control, patience, and as much empathy as possible while dealing with difficult people, a day of binge-watching your favorite show, a scheduled massage or deciding to go phone-free for an entire weekend is more than warranted. You survived the crazy with class and grace. Give thanks, sis. Real talk.

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