Grief & Joy During the Holidays
Fighting the Stigma | Mental Health Awareness
Grief & joy during the holidays are two polarizing emotions you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see in a sentence together. The Holiday season is a time of joy and love. Giving and receiving, family time, eggnog spiked with rum & Christmas baked goodies abound. For many people though, the Holidays (& winter months in general) bring about not just a stressful time but a reminder of grief and loss in their lives.
It’s no surprise that at a time of year when we are supposed to be focused on our loved ones, people fall deeper into depression, feel lonely, sad, and can experience feelings of grief for those no longer in our lives. It’s a time where you’re meant to feel surrounded by family but it can make you feel more alone in the world than ever.
The circle of life is all around us. New life is constantly being born, we are always meeting new people, new relationships are being formed, and connections create bonds that leave a mark on us forever. At the same time, we wouldn’t have life without death and the holiday season is a stark reminder of all that we have lost sometimes. Whether you have experienced the physical death of a loved one or, like many of us including myself, the emotional loss of many people, it can be easy to be hit with waves of grief unexpectedly especially during this difficult time of year. Both types of death, physical and emotional, are gut-wrenching and can stay with you forever, though time can help the frequency of these painful moments.
Part of living life is learning to accept the losses of relationships and people around you, no matter how much it hurts, stings or stays. Always believe there’s a purpose to it and focus on how you can take that pain to better yourself and make yourself stronger at the end of the day. It doesn’t mean you won’t always hold love for them, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean it won’t hurt. But soldiering through the pain, I’ve learnt, is all part of the daily battle of life.
To feel pain, to feel loss, to feel joy, to feel love. It’s all a part of our journey.
Did you know that if you send a text to 686868 when you are feeling depressed or suicidal (any type of crisis), a crisis worker will text you back immediately and will continue to text with you?
Many people don’t like talking over the phone and would feel more comfortable texting. This is a free service for anyone in Canada. ♡
