From now until New Years, this is considered the “Holiday Season.” Unfortunately, for many, it’s also the season of the “Holiday Blues.” So we are here to help you learn how to get through the holiday blues this year.
Although the holiday season is often associated with joy and celebration, many people experience negative feelings instead. Sadness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are all commonly expressed during the holiday season, although they are more quietly dealt with.
How To Get Through The Holiday Blues
In this post, I’ll share some strategies to cope with and overcome some these feelings and learn how to get through the holiday blues. Because you should never feel alone.
Acknowledge Your Feelings
The most important step, in my opinion, is to recognize and accept the emotions that you are feeling, whether it’s sadness, loneliness, or stress. It may sound cliche, but understanding that it’s ok to feel and recognizing your distress is always important. It’s ok to not feel as “festive” as everyone else. Your feelings are valid and important.
Reach Out To Those You Trust
Now this may be a trickier one, because unfortunately for some of us, the trust circle is very small. You may not have family or a significant other. Maybe your friends have become distant and you don’t feel that you can go to them. I get it. I have been there. If you do have someone you can go to, please do. They may even have their own perspective on how to get through the holiday blues and personal stories to help. Open up about how you’re feeling and get yourself a support system during the hardest time of the year. If you don’t, there are many other steps in here that can help, despite your lack of a support system.
Write Out Your Feelings
This one is especially important for those without a support system, but helpful for all. You may have never owned a journal, but now is the time. Whether it’s finding an unused notebook, writing thoughts down on scraps of paper, or simply opening a note tab on your phone, writing out everything that you are feeling can be one of the most therapeutic actions you can take. I have poured out my feelings in journals over the years and it has helped me feel as though burdens have been lifted from me. Sometimes you just have to get those feelings out to feel a little more free. Writing in a journal is one of my personal go-to steps on how to get through the holiday blues when I deal with them.
Manage Your Expectations
This is another one coming from my personal experience. The holiday season happens to also be the season of getting your hopes up. Maybe you expect that lost love to come back, or for your family to finally get their act together. Maybe you’re hoping your significant other finally catches the drift on what you’ve been hinting on what you want for Christmas. And then when things don’t go the way your brain imagined it would, it can send you into a spiral. Am I not worth loving? Why can’t I have a normal family? Does he even care?
Adding extra expectations on top of just wanting to have a peaceful holiday season can cause so much added stress and depression. And I am in no way saying not to hope for things. But sometimes, it’s good to take life into perspective and just try to focus on what’s right in front of you and appreciate the little things to get through it all.
Don’t Compare Yourself With Others
Comparing your holidays to those posted on the picture-perfect highlight reel of social media will never help. No one prefers to air their dirty laundry online. So when you see someone post their happy little family online, you’re not seeing the fights behind closed doors and the struggles they are also going through. I could write an entire post on this topic alone, but for now, let’s move on.
Prioritize Self-Care
I cannot stress this enough. Taking care of yourself is one of the best ways to get through the Holiday season. Get enough sleep. Drink enough water. Take the time to do the things you love. Buy the item you’ve been wanting to buy yourself while you’re out Christmas shopping! (No one has to know!) Meditate. Read a book. Take up yoga. The list goes on and on. But seriously, the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you is to prioritize yourself. And it’s not selfish.
Again, these steps are my personal opinion. When writing these posts, I always look up other posts with opinions of the same topic, and there’s some that I see repeated in each post that I don’t necessarily agree with. In the end, you have to do what works for you. What helps YOU. If you need professional help, get it. If helping others makes you feel better inside, pour yourself into volunteer work. You do you, boo.
Just remember that you are important. You matter. And the world would not be the same without you. No matter the season. No matter how busy life gets. And we will get through this holiday blues together.