thanksgiving with lots of family

Hey Jules, I get it. The holidays are all overwhelming but I try to take it all one step at a time. Thanksgiving is the biggest get together for my family because everyone's there. For other holidays everyone branches off with their in-laws. This year I am going to make sure that I go for a nice long run in the morning to shake off any anxiety. If I can enter the day feeling less anxious that's going to help a ton. And I always play the "I forgot something in the car" or "I need to get something from the car" so that I can get outside to breathe some fresh air. I'll step outside and take some deep breaths. Then I go back inside and get back to the festivities. That's gotten me through big gatherings for years.

I travel for Thanksgiving which is stressful enough so I am grateful that I go to my family's home where it's pretty tame. Christmas is another story. It's mayhem and does cause me a lot more anxiety but Thanksgiving is pretty mellow, thank goodness.

I go to a big thanksgiving at a friend's house because family is far away. This year I don't know what to expect because it's at a friend of a friend's house so that automatically adds a layer of anxiety. Like with every big social occassion that gives me anxiety I talk to my therapist about it and that calms me. I feel like suppressing my emotions about it makes it worse so talking about it helps a lot. Or even writing in my journal. I'm also newer to meditation but so far it helps me especially the day of the event.