12/24/2025
Christmas on the Island? Let's de-stress like Bing - a few common and uncommon tips dealing with stress this time of the year
I don't know about you, but I find it impossible to feel stressed when listening to Bing Crosby*, especially the Bing Crosby White Christmas Album.
There's something very peaceful and nostalgic about every song...Which is probably why it's the second most selling Christmas Album of all time, and contains the single most selling single: "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin.
Interestingly enough, White Christmas really isn't about the holiday, and could be a reflection on Berlin's tragic personal loss of his young son, which happened on December 25 in 1928.
You can kind of sense the song's yearning for a simpler time, and I think that helps it hit the right heart strings.
Nostalgia is a special form of feeling that actually may have a really important psychological role.
"Nostalgia reminds us of better times and helps us feel less lonely when we are facing adversities. It also helps us identify positive aspects of our past, which we would like to recreate in the future.
"Nostalgic experiences are also known to have immunological effects, such as decreasing the levels of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines, including the tumor necrosis factor-A, and interferon-C.
"Nostalgia can even make us more charitable, creative and optimistic.
"Therefore, nostalgia can clearly play a role in psychological and physiological resilience, as well as in the development of social bonding.
(From the article: The Nostalgic Brain Brain Gives You the Power to Live) http://atlasofscience.org/the-nostalgic-brain/
In the story of White Christmas, a historian of Irving Berlin talks about the importance of the song in American Cinema and culture, and its creation, as well as the importance of the song to Bing Crosby.
From NPR 100: White Christmas https://www.npr.org/2000/12/25/1116021/white-christmas
Crosby regularly performed it for the troops overseas (in the stress of a war zone!), and saw its magic work time and time again.
White Christmas (and Bing) had the power to calm the crowds in a wave of nostalgia...thoughts of holiday at home.
But some believe nostalgia can also turn to sadness and its own form of stress if repeated too much.
Which is why I personally suggest always following up White Christmas with Mele Kalilikimaka - the last track on the album.
After you've been lulled into forgetting about the zillion of things you have to do by Bing Crosby's voice, and the nostalgia of the music, you can imagine spending a winter on the beaches of Hawaii with the help of the Andrew Sisters on backup vocals.
So, first de-stressing tip for the holidays.
Listen to Bing. Especially White Christmas. But always end with Mele Kalikimaka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob4LT_gUSFQ
On the flip side...Keep in mind, some really important scientists have been studying the overuse of certain songs around the holidays and find that holiday music tends to make us happier - at first - but then overdoing it increases stress!
https://www.inc.com/melody-wilding/neuroscience-says-holiday-music-is-mentally-draining.html
So, moderation, I guess.
Other tips.
* Get more sleep because it helps with decision making
* Don't feel bad that "happy" things are making you feel not so good - that's normal
* And get somebody else do it or ask for help
We go over all of these tips here: How to make better decisions and delegate to avoid holiday stress.
https://liachiro.com/how-to-make-better-decisions-and-delegate-to-avoid-holiday-stress/
*In an era where the moral failings of artists is front and center, I understand Crosby was a real dirtbag to his family, so obviously that's not what we're emulating!
