How to manage stress on holidays?

Coping with the stress in Chusuk

# An office worker, Jang(36), she is getting a headache because Chusuk is just around corner. Last year, she was afraid of her relatives so she did not go anywhere in Chusuk. They always asked her that when she married. Nowadays, she is more sensitive.

# A housewife Yoon(44), She always fears that holiday is coming. When her relatives gather together, at first, they are very harmonious and happy. However, its atmosphere is getting serious. Finally they are arguing each other. Her son said, “Why do our relatives always have a quarrel?”.

On holidays, many people go to see their family or relatives. However, unfortunately, they are not good always. Sometimes, they are making a row. If its situation is happening again and again, their unique family affection(가족애) disappears. However, we don’t want to happen to that. In that case, how to handle our anger?

▲ An illustrator = Journalist Lee Chul won, burbuck@chosun.com

◆ We have something to do with each other, so we are fighting more.

The reason why we are fighting each other is that we are family. It is related to our brain. The renowned scholar Stephen Platek in America said that brain reaction is different depends on who they are. If we look at our family pictures and others pictures, reaction parts in brain are dissimilar. Our brain shows the same reaction when we are looking at our pictures and family pictures. However, when we are looking at others pictures, other parts in brain are responding. In other words, we recognize that family or relatives is the same with us. So relatives more trust each other than others, and we accept the same remark differently.
Therefore, one of your relatives said that “you should marry.” or “Why did not you get promotion?”, you are responding to a question sensitively. We think that relatives and we are the same. (I=relatives)

▲ Defense note about scolding of love(잔소리)

◆ We are patient, because of mother. It does not make sense, nowadays.

Professor Kim in Kyung Hee University said that some people think that she/he is the weak and then they can easily get angry to her/him who accepts their anger naturally. Therefore they choose their family or relatives. So it is liable to fighting on holidays. Children and husbands usually work off their stress to their mother or wives. In this case, women who are under great pressure, can lose their temper when they are working on Holidays. He said that in the past women are always patient because they are mother or wives, but nowadays they don’t bear it any longer. Therefore, after holidays gathering, we have a specific time that we can talk each other. In addition, husbands do not force their wives to be tolerant, and they should get a coffee for their wives or help them. Someone who is much afraid of holidays, she/he makes a plan how to deal with situation.

◆ Write a diary about your anger.

Professor Kim in Kyung Hee University said, “Our activity reduces in autumn and winter. This period is related to college entrance exam and something productive. So our stress is getting more aggravated, we might come down with melancholia. In addition, in autumn, we are more annoyed and easily losing our temper. So we are careful each other. "
So he suggests that we should write a diary about our anger. We can understand our problems and we can find a solution by writing a dairy. In addition, we unwittingly know that we are easily getting stressed about something which is very trivial and worthless. Therefore he thinks that we can control our stress by managing our anger, trying meditating in subway or bus, listening to favorite music.

Comments

Sometimes, upcoming holiday is so stressful. When I was preparing for entrance exam, I didn’t want to see my relatives, because I didn’t want to hear about exam. That year, I might be melancholy. However, I think it is unavoidable situations, so we cannot help hearing something which is good or bad. So, like this article, we have to manage our stress and try to overcome these conditions.
Many people are too busy so they can’t meet easily. In particular, we rarely see our relatives except for specific days or meeting. In this point, Chusuk or other holidays are important. Therefore, we should considerate each other and have a good time with our relatives.

Reference:

http://tinyurl.com/y9m7qs3

http://tinyurl.com/ybebc3c (the picture)

http://tinyurl.com/yczfdx5 (송편)