Thank you for joining us for episode 498 of Live Happy Now.

With family holiday gatherings and celebrations rapidly approaching, many people are experiencing that familiar feeling of dread and anxiety.

So this week, we're looking at how to make the most out of this year's family gatherings.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and today I am joined by Dr. Andrea Gigline, a success coach and author who uses the principles of positive psychology to guide her practices.

Andrea explains why the anxiety surrounding these gatherings is so high and offers tips to help us prepare

ahead of time so we can avoid common arguments and create a more peaceful and enjoyable

environment for everyone. And she even gives us a little follow-up homework for after the

holidays. Let's have a listen. Andrea, welcome back to Live Happy Now. It is always a happy day for me when I get to do this.

So thank you for the invitation yet again.

Oh, well, you're always so much fun to talk to, but you also have, not but, and you also

have so many great insights that you can share with us. And I had to listen to another podcast

that you were a guest on. And I was like,

you know, I'd really love to dig into some of that with her and expand it a little bit more.

And that's because, you know, the holidays are a mixed bag of emotions. This one has a few extra

elements thrown in. We've made it through Thanksgiving. And I know a lot of people who are

dreading getting together for the Christmas celebrations. So I guess to start, can we talk about some of the things that can

drive anxiety leading up to holiday gatherings with families? This is really a perfect intro.

Some of the things that drive anxiety. I want to help relieve some of the additional variables you alluded to, the extra things

that people think have been added. Know that this anticipation and dread of family gatherings

around holidays or gatherings, you know, sometimes it can be a

wedding, you know, whenever the troops are being called together, the anxiety level and the

anticipation of what could go wrong starts way in advance. So the very first thing I want us to all think about is this is not

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