Hi peacock,
You are definitely not alone. This was a topic raised at a forum I was at recently and everyone in the group shared the stresses of the holiday period. This ranged from holidays reminding us of people who were no longer with us, to having to spend time with people we don’t necessarily like very much to dealing with an increase in social anxiety as you describe.
This was true for my family this year as my dad doesn’t cope very well with a change in routine so he gets grouchy (which is his way of expressing anxiety) and then we all are walking on eggshells. It’s tough as he has extra people in the house and wants everyone to be taken care of but I think he also wants to run and hide.
This year I tried to combat things with a written schedule so he knew what to anticipate. It helped a little. I was also able to schedule him in some space that I called ‘just dad time’ which gave him a break.
Finding strategies that work for you is important such as giving yourself a healthy structure despite the required social events. Ie. scheduling yourself an evening walk for one hour no matter where you are.
Wishing you best,
Nurse Jenn
