It’s the most wonderful time of the year but Christmas can also hurt. Many people struggle to find the Christmas cheer that others thrive on. Does this sound familiar? This Holiday Season, we may still have PTSD that 2020 and the Pandemic brought. There is anxiety to deal with, for yet another new normal, so people are going to need a few tools to help themselves.

Tips to implement in your life:

So overall we need to ask ourselves how do you honour yourself and cope with the feeling of bah humbug?

As an individual you need to:

• Remember things that brought you joy
• Reach out to friends and family that are far away
• Remember and recreate holiday memories/ traditions
• Watch your favourite holiday movie

While, collectively as a family, you need to:

• Set aside time to spend with each other
• Do friends/ family game night
• Decorate the home to lift your spirits.
• Have everyone pick an activity to do

Grieving loved ones

When grieving for a loved one you need to:

• Set Boundaries with Holiday Events
• Tune Into Your Grief Emotions
• Plan Ahead to Fill Empty Holiday Roles
• Honour Old Traditions & Honour Memories
• Create New Traditions
• Identify Grief Coping Skills
• Volunteer/Do Something Charitable
• Ask For Help When Struggling with Grief

Redefine the Holiday Season

We need to learn How to lift ourselves up. We need to notice toxic positivity.

Be gentle with yourself as you notice and attend to the feelings we are feeling. If you are thinking: How can I incorporate my surviving skills as a success? Well, simply surviving IS THE WIN sometimes. This may sound like:

• It could be the day you pulled yourself off the couch
• I cooked when I didn’t feel like it
• Reflect on the things that were hard for someone to do, applaud a friend, applaud yourself, applaud a family member
• The little wins, the silent battles won
• Doing something nice that can help people