GRIEF

For all those (like me) navigating the holidays while experiencing loss, I want to acknowledge that loss takes many forms. Some of us have lost people, others have lost relationships, their health, homes, identities, businesses or the futures they thought they were walking towards. Grief doesn’t make space for the holidays; it holds us firmly in its grip, requiring us to feel the pain until we’ve processed it fully. Celebrations often amplify or exaggerate our feelings of being out of sync or “off.”

WHAT TO DO

Here is a simple list of ways to manage the holidays while simultaneously experiencing loss:

Tell yourself it’s ok to opt out of holiday festivities that “take” more than they “give.”

Remind yourself that solitude isn’t loneliness, it is choosing quiet space to tend to yourself.

Feelings of gratitude and sadness, love and anger, hope and exhaustion can co-exist. Holidays are the perfect time to acknowledge these mixed emotions.

Your grief doesn’t need to be productive, inspirational or performative. It can just be present.

REMIND YOURSELF

Key to managing this time of year is: fewer expectations for yourself and others, taking lots of space, allowing private rituals that stabilize and summoning up the courage to say “no.”

If this season feels heavy, you aren’t failing, you are grieving. You can feel steady even if joy eludes you. You are allowed to take this season one breath at a time.