Look at the brighter side. Don't accept you'll have a lonely holiday. Be kind and gentle to yourself by planning things worth doing, instead of stressing out with unnecessarily gloom.
Christmas is meant to be a time of joy and giving, a time of celebrating and sharing the love and hope that are the messages of this holiday season. The thought of holidays being a time for family and togetherness can be painful if you are alone, grieving and coping for a loved one's loss (physical death or divorce), and far away from family and friends.
Plan How to Reduce Christmas Blues
- Identify some worthwhile things to do
- List them down
- Ensure your plans will help achieve your goal
- Do your best then try not to judge the results
What are these holiday blues? Sadness, pressure, loneliness, guilt, depression, anger, frustration, bitterness. List goes on.
Take a few minutes to sit down with a blank piece of paper and a pen. First, accept your situation, then ask guidance from your higher power, many of us call God, then ask yourself what you would like to eliminate to ensure a less stressful Christmas holiday. By having a clear picture of what you want to do and what you want to avoid, you have the first tool for eliminating your holiday blues.
How to Avoid Christmas Blues
- If you really need to be home, pamper yourself by having good food, good music, and those good books waiting to be read.
- Check with your local churches. There may be groups organizing potluck dinners on Christmas and New Year's Day. Some may even have other events to help relieve after-the-holiday blues.
- Organize a potluck dinner or get-together with handful of people from work or your immediate neighbors. People you're comfortable with. Who knows, friendship might develop.
- Take a short trip, a day trip to some place you've always wanted to visit but haven't the chance to do.
- Play Christmas music to keep you company and "alive" instead of feeling the blues.
- Take a walk, a good walk to enjoy the rain, the snow or the sun. You can even go out to admire local lights or the decorations in shopping centres and hotels. Simply enjoy the moment and be thankful for your blessings.
- Find something nice to do. Listen to your favourite music, buy something for yourself, or you can even take a long bubble bath.
- Indulge yourself in a phone call to someone you care about or call trusted friends to talk. It's worth the call charges if it makes you feel better. Plan ahead so you know they're available.
- If you are scheduled to work, plan a special dinner with others on your shift-work. Bring food to share, play Christmas music, sing along during breaks.
- Rent fun movies from your nearby video/DVD shops and watch them; something to do after you have opened your gifts.
- Find opportunities to hug. It will make you feel truly great. If there's no one to hug, hug your throw pillow. It works!
Release unnecessary expectations about your feelings and events, and enjoy whatever good comes along.
