“Most of the stress can come from before the family gathering, not during, because your nervous system is reacting to the past [it’s] basically panicking that the past is about to repeat itself”. Try breathing exercises, getting outside, taking a short walk, or, literally, attempt to shake it off. Bojanowski-Bubb is a fan of the latter technique, and says that she sometimes takes a moment to shake her body — her arms, legs, and hands — to physically shimmy the stress off, and force a reset. Tell yourself: “this is today, it’s not the past. I can handle this today.”
