Hello everyone,
It’s been about a week since we rang in 2019 and closed the door on 2018 for good. In doing so, we also said goodbye to the holiday season once again. While the internet really does love to hype up the holidays, we all know that it can be a rough time for a lot of people. Whether it be family issues and conflicts, personal hardship, or in my case, the recent loss of a loved one, sometimes the holidays just leave us feeling drained and sad rather than joyous.
I’ve mentioned Katie Dalebout’s podcast Let It Out many times before on this blog. In the early part of December, Katie released a solo podcast about how to take care of yourself in the face of all of these hardships during the holidays. I found this podcast really inspiring and used a couple of the ideas she mentioned. However, no matter how hard I tried, I still found the holidays to be extremely difficult after the passing of my grandmother on Thanksgiving. No matter how many extra self-care tactics I employed, I still couldn’t shake the dark cloud of loss that hung over my family during Christmas dinner and donkey kicked me with emotion when I realized I would ring in 2019 without her. So, I’m gonna be brutally honest. This holiday season kinda sucked, not because of anything my family did wrong, but just because I missed my grandmother. And because of this, I’m still feeling a little raw, even eight days into 2019.
If I’m feeling this way, I have no doubt that there are a couple of you out there who are still struggling. So, I thought I might tell you how I’ve been coping, and maybe they’ll help you, too.
Find an ally.
An ally can be anyone. A friend, your partner, your mom or grandmother, they just have to be someone who understands what you’re going through and has either been there or can empathize without judgment. Go out to grab a coffee or even have a knitting session—anything— with said person and just talk. Give and take. Listen to what they might be going through, and they’ll listen, too. It’s both a dose of normal life in the midst of chaos, as well as a small distraction.
Take some time to yourself.
After the frenzied holiday season, sometimes one of the best ways to heal is to just give yourself some much needed. While this is coming from an introverted perspective, I really do believe that it is important to give yourself time to breathe and process whatever you may be feeling alone. Writing, cooking, meditating, exercising, or doing something else you enjoy by yourself can really give you both peace of mind and space to figure yourself out.
If you’re really feeling low, get yourself to some counseling or therapy.
I will always be a big believer in the power of therapy. I’m one of those people that view mental health in the same light as physical health. If something is off or wrong with your body, you get yourself to the doctor. The same applies to your mental state. If things are really off, a professional opinion can only help. I go to the counseling services at my school, so I haven’t been able to follow this advice. However, I have been taking notes on things to discuss with my counselor so that when I make my first appointment, I’ll know exactly what to talk about. Much like exercising, I never regret going to counseling, and I always find that it gives me peace.
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As we are all moving forward into healing in this new year, I hope you are all doing well and are helped in some way by this post. If you have anything you would like to share or can think of another helpful tip, please feel free (as always) to leave it down in the comments! Or, head on over to my Instagram and start the conversation there. If you do, leave the evergreen emoji on my last post so we can all see who read this post! (I’ve seen other bloggers and influencers do this, and I thought it would be a cute idea to do as well!)
XOXO
The Ginger Introvert 