We're Momming Today! w/Lauren Simonetti · FOX News Podcasts

Psychotherapist’s Advice On Conquering Holiday Stress

·23 min·1 clip

A friend moved into a new house, hosted Thanksgiving, and had Christmas decorations up immediately.

1. We're Momming Today! w/Lauren Simonetti focuses on holiday stress with psychotherapist Dr. Terrilyn Sell. 2. Lauren Simonetti hosts, and Dr. Terrilyn Sell is introduced as a psychotherapist and brain health expert. 3. The episode asks how moms can lower holiday pressure while still making Christmas feel special. 4. Simonetti recalls her mother delivering the best Christmas for everyone and then going to bed sick after Christmas Day. 5. Sell says she is a mom of three and recognizes the perfectionistic push that appears during holidays and birthday parties. 6. The conversation uses early shopping and gift wrapping by the first week of December as a concrete example of reducing stress. 7. Sell says she once shopped, completed, and wrapped Christmas gifts by the first week of December in some years. 8. She describes that habit as a way to check off boxes, move on, and enjoy the season more. 9. Sell says learning to say no is a major part of reducing holiday overload. 10. She gives examples such as skipping extra ribbon and not attending 16 Christmas parties. 11. Sell notes that the pandemic forced many families to reflect on what actually worked when schedules were stripped back. 12. Simonetti says last year she still did the same amount of work for only two outside visitors and felt depressed. 13. Sell describes the emotional load women carry, including the constant mental calendar of everyone’s obligations. 14. She compares that mental load to having “400 tabs open on a computer at all times.” 15. Sell says negative thought patterns can act like a “canary in the coal mine” for stress. 16. She adds that cortisol helps people keep going during the holiday scramble, but the body often crashes afterward. 17. The discussion moves to decorating, with Simonetti describing scrubbing her house and then questioning why she compares herself to a fully decorated friend. 18. The tone is conversational, with back-and-forth humor, personal confession, and practical coaching. 19. Moms, caregivers, and holiday planners who want realistic stress advice may appreciate this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a true-crime style or highly produced narrative may skip it.

As heard by us

A candid look at the emotional load behind holiday perfection, from Christmas Eve errands to the calendar in one mom's head.

Holiday stress lands as invisible labor: the perfectionism behind making Christmas feel effortless, the calendar held in one person's head, and the way help can sometimes create more work.

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Why you'd press play

You want holiday advice that starts with the Christmas Eve mall run and ends with the 400-tab brain.

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