Surviving the Festive Season...

Whilst many people love December and the gift buying, parties and seasonal cheer it brings to their lives, there is another demographic for who this time of the year can be particularly difficult, painful and lonely.

The adverts featuring toys, families, children and partners, the pressure some feel that they need to show themselves as being happy, the trying to be positive and thoughts that next year will be better. Plus of course, there are a lot of people who at one time or another, received tragic news at this time of the year and the legacy of this trauma resurfaces every year.

If you are in the camp of not enjoying this time of the year, Covid possibly helps in enabling you to ‘say no’ to various things but also the following tips may be helpful:

• As noted above, feel free to say no to things and spend some time by yourself reflecting on the person you miss.

• Write a letter expressing how you are feeling (you don’t need to send it anywhere).

• Visit a memorable place that holds good memories.

• Share your thoughts / spend some time with a close friend/s.

• Listen to some music/watch an old movie that you enjoy.

• When it does get too much, give yourself space and breathe!

Helplines available and manned even on the busiest days include Samaritans on 116 123, Childline on 0800 1111 and most boroughs will have a Crisis Resolution Team available.

If you know of someone who may be struggling, reach out and let them know you are there for them. If you yourself are the one who is struggling, use the above if helpful and appreciate that it took 11 months to arrive at December and in just over 2 weeks we will be through it.