I asked AI to help me stop being a Grinch this Christmas — and it actually gave good advice

Maybe ChatGPT is right...

16 Dec 2025, 12:20 · TechRadar

Features By John-Anthony Disotto published 16 December 2025

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

I’m not anti-Christmas per se. I like the food, the films, the excuse to slow down, but what I don’t like is the pressure to feel festive. Sometimes I can't switch my brain off, returning to work in January more exhausted than at the end of the prior year.

This year, instead of forcing it, I've decided to try something different and ask ChatGPT how to actually enjoy the Christmas holidays without turning them into yet another thing I need to get right.

I've been using AI all year, so in theory, it should know a decent bit about me and how my brain works by now. So I asked it: Give me advice based on what you know about me on how to enjoy the Christmas holidays

I expected generic wellness fluff in return. What I got back was… annoyingly sensible.

Accept reality

The first thing ChatGPT told me was to stop trying to optimize Christmas.

That stung, mostly because it was true. I optimize everything. Work, free time, even rest. If I’m not careful, a day off becomes a silent checklist of things I should be enjoying more, and more often than not, I end up spending my "rest" making myself more agitated and burnt out.

The advice was simple: If a day contains a walk, one good meal, and something familiar on TV, that counts. I don’t need a magical moment, don’t need a memory I'll talk about for years, I just need the day to be fine.

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