Grieving is hard any time of the year but during the holidays it’s particularly hard. Whether you have lost family or friends to death or have parted ways with family that were not healthy for you just know that it makes sense to be having a harder time during this season. While looking at lights with friends it makes sense to feel sad and not really present. It makes sense to feel annoyance with some parts of the season. It’s ok that it’s hard to focus on work right now.

Others are also going through similar feelings and challenges. There are people out there who can get a bit of what you are going though and it may be helpful to find them.

Here are 3 tips to get through the holidays:

(1) Spend time with people who get grief such as others who have also lost people or others who have parted ways with family. It’s ok to say no to large events that you aren’t up for. Try to say yes to smaller events with people you can be vulnerable with.

(2) Create some space to process your feelings. For example, give yourself 15 or 30 minutes between meetings to space out or to walk. Keep working but go gently on yourself. When you notice a feeling see if you can tune into it for a few seconds or a few minutes and it will slowly pass and change to a new feeling.

(3) Over time you will start to create new holiday traditions for yourself and your family. This is ok. This doesn’t mean you’ve forgotten your loved ones or moved on. It just means you are coming to terms with your new reality and learning to cope through.

The holiday season will be hard but hopefully these tips can make it even 5% easier. You don’t need to do this alone. If you need extra support with the grief come in to see me or another counsellor.

Warmly,

Natalie

nataliehansencounselling@gmail.com