If you’ve lost someone you loved, Christmas can be a painful reminder especially if it’s the first Christmas without them. I remember the year when my sister died… To be honest, everything felt like a blur and I just wanted it all to hurry up and end.
How to be without them? You may want to celebrate as before, maintain traditions, you may want to create something new. Invites from friends can leave you not knowing what to do. It helps to be honest with people about how you feel, and, if you decide that you don’t want to celebrate, it’s really ok. There’s no need to be merry and bright.
There can be guilt around being happy again. Sharing a few laughs with friends doesn’t, however, mean you don’t miss your loved one. The best thing to do is to ask your heart what you want, it knows what is best for you. What matters is you.
It’s important to take care of yourself, be gentle with yourself…allow yourself to feel what you feel, accept, and take time out if you need it. And even when you are grieving, you can find joy in something about the person you loved, a memory, when you look in your heart you know they are still there, or, in how the people around you are there for you.