Why Do We Feel Anxious When the Holidays Approach?
- Chao Zhao
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
Finding Calm, Connection, and Creativity During the “Holiday Blues”
As the holidays draw near, the world around us glows with light and laughter. Yet for many, that sparkle can feel bittersweet. Maybe you’ve just been laid off and feel uncertain about your next step. Maybe family gatherings stir up tension or loneliness. Maybe you’re grieving a relationship, a family member, or even a beloved pet.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. What many call the “holiday blues”—that quiet ache beneath the festivities—is more common than we realize. These feelings don’t mean you’re broken. They mean you’re human, responding to a season that can stir deep memories, expectations, and emotions.
Why Holidays Can Feel So Hard
The holidays are often framed as joyful and heartwarming, but they can also highlight loss, comparison, and change.
Research from the Journal of Affective Disorders notes that “financial strain, social expectations, and the pressure to feel happy” significantly increase anxiety and sadness during the holidays (Sansone & Sansone, 2011). For those navigating grief, unemployment, or family conflict, these months can magnify feelings of disconnection or shame.
At Creative Hearts Collaborative, we recognize that emotions aren’t something to “fix”—they’re signals asking for understanding, compassion, and care.
The Healing Power of Art Therapy
Art therapy invites you to express what words can’t always capture. Through color, shape, and image, you can gently explore emotions like sadness, longing, and hope.
As an art therapist and researcher, Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, explains:
“Art making provides a form of self-regulation and expression that bypasses verbal limitations and allows the nervous system to release tension through sensory experience.”(Malchiodi, 2012, The Soul’s Palette)
When you create, your body begins to soften, moving from fight or flight into rest and restore. Art can remove resistance and become your language of healing.
Common Emotional Triggers
Family dynamics: Tension, roles, and unspoken expectations can resurface.
Financial or social stress: Feeling obligated to give, attend, or perform.
Loneliness: Disconnection from family or community traditions.
Perfectionism: The pressure to “make the holidays magical,” even when you feel drained.
Understanding these triggers helps you meet yourself with kindness instead of criticism.
Mindful Grounding Tools
Here are a few small but powerful ways to ground yourself this season:
Breath Reset — Try the 4-7-8 breath: inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8.
Sensory Reset — Notice 5 things you see, 4 you feel, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, 1 you taste.
Compassionate Boundaries — Ask yourself: “What do I need to feel safe and peaceful today?” Then honor that truth.
Art Directive to Ease Holiday Stress: “Collage or Doodle What Peace Looks Like”
Using magazine clippings, colored pencils, or digital tools, create an image of what peace looks and feels like during the holiday season.
Let go of expectations and focus on what emerges naturally. Reflect afterward:
What colors or symbols represent calm for me?
How can I bring these into my daily rituals?
You are doing what you can, healing or easing our anxiety takes time! Remember, you are good enough and a good person, so you don't need to put in extra effort to prove yourself to anyone, even if they are your loved ones.
Hope you can enjoy a peaceful and restful holiday season, when the world is crazy loud and full of distractions, being with yourself first, look inward and notice what you really need!
Kids painting from an open resource
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