Grief is one of those swirling emotions that can really take the wind out of our sails around the Holidays. There is so much going on that we have a hard time pinpointing what is coming up for us. We also have a hard time navigating what we need and how best to be supported.
This series is here to try and help make some sense of what is going on, provide you with some normalcy and give you a few helpful suggestions to help you on your journey with grief.
We are going to focus on your emotional wellness as a top priority. This series will help you find some comfort with your sadness, navigate loneliness, develop resourcefulness in demanding situations, forge allies and also help you navigate feelings of joy.
But perhaps to get started on what is coming up for you we are first going to focus on a few reflections that might help us level set our system. I recommend that you take a few moments everyday just to check in with yourself. This check in allows you to develop a relationship with what you are feeling by taking notice of what did/what is or what may be happening for you.
Checking in can be as simple as acknowledging that the holidays are going to be hard and that I am giving myself permission to: slow down, be alone, feel happiness, or others that resonate.
You may also have the energy to dive into what you are afraid of or overwhelmed by? Perhaps there is a fear of projecting sadness or being a burden. Often these fears require us to ensure we are creating a rich self-care practice that is supported by wonderful friends that can really help ensure we are managing as best we can.
Responding to those fear questions with ideas on how you can be kind to myself and what do you need in this moment can be really helpful in generating care instead of fear. For example, I cannot take another one of Uncle Bill’s misogynistic speeches at dinner may mean, you excuse yourself to the washroom, an ally states that his speech is not appropriate/changes the subject/creates a talk theme, or perhaps you decide not to do dinner with Uncle Bill and instead arrange brunch with individual parts.
All of this to say, that there are more options than just putting your head down and getting through it. That there are options that are not all either/or type options. But, we do need to set a foundation that allows for you to really connect deeply to your feelings throughout the day, pre-develop some resource options and to normalize what you are going through.
This holiday can be about comfort and joy and it will look different than it has any other year if we can take it step by step.
I know there is a lot inside these moments that are often difficult to settle into so we highly recommend subscribing below to ensure you get all the posts.
May this series plant roots for the coming weeks.