Still unsure about what to do on Christmas day? If you are spending this festive season alone or quieter than usual, consider these suggestions that will benefit your overall emotional and relational wellbeing…
It’s 5am and I am writing this article in front of a fully lit Christmas tree. I am thinking how reluctant I was to decorate this year and how happy I am that I did. “Focus on light not on darkness” is great advice, as we face celebrating the festive season in our own little “bubble” away from extended family and friends.
Digital Christmas 2020
During the best of times, the festive season can be a time of opposing feelings as our need for togetherness and proximity at times leads to frustration and conflict. This year, the COVID pandemic might be forcing us towards having a digital Christmas, which after months of relating online can feel tiring and burdensome.
If you are going to spend the festive season alone or quieter than you usual it is important to have a plan in place to take care of your emotional and relational needs:
- Focus on helping others: Look out for NGO’s that are offering safe opportunities for volunteering. This might include delivering hot meals on Christmas day to the elderly or food boxes to families in need. Get in touch with a friend who is also spending the holidays alone. Create digital dates with loved ones over mince pies and hot chocolate. These activities can help us feel connected and less alone.
- Create a festive atmosphere at home: Decorate as usual, make Christmas sweets and mulled wine, cook Christmas dinner. Save up some feel-good movies that you can binge on over hot chocolate and ginger bread cookies. Take a warm scented bath, go for a long walk in the country-side or by the sea. Sometimes the simplest of things can lift our spirits and make us feel restored.
- Create new traditions: Be creative and embark on new opportunities to improve your well-being. Start a journal, join a virtual exercise class or a meditation one, start painting, cooking or gardening. It is important to engage in activities that are life-giving and can help us navigate these days constructively.
- Re-frame your thoughts: Talk to yourself as if you are talking to a friend. Use the same understanding and empathy usually reserved for loved ones. You are loved too. And it’s ok to feel uncertain, sad or at loss because we are living in unprecedented times. Most of us are givers, carers and helpers in our day to day lives. Maybe this festive season we can allow ourselves some well-deserved time for self-care.
On that note I would like to wish our readers and followers on Women, Health and More a peaceful festive season and a New Year full of hope and new beginnings.
Feeling off during this Christmas period due to the current pandemic situation? Try downloading one of these apps…
If you’d like to give a helping hand during Christmas, especially this year when loneliness is hitting hard during the pandemic, check out the Women for Women Foundation and see how you can also help make a difference in women’s lives.
Anna Catania (M.Cons. PG(Dip) Psychosexual and relationship therapy is a warranted counsellor specialised in the area if sex and relationships. She provides counselling to individuals and couples who are having difficulties with sexuality, relationships and intimacy.
Click here to check out Anna’s full bio as well as a list of all her Wham published articles
