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holidays hurt
Heavy Hearted Holidays
By Frank Kermit
The holidays come with wonderful expectations of joyous celebrations, family gatherings, and time spent reconnecting with loved ones. Images of happy times celebrating love surround us in holidays sales announcements and media.
However, there is a side of the holidays that doesn't always get the attention it merits. Truth be told, it is the one time of the year, which
I keep my availability to clients on a 24/7 basis, because for a significant number of people, the holiday season is not about joy, but a melancholy reminder of loneliness and loss.
Spending my holidays consoling the lonely and broken hearted, gives me an incredible sense of gratitude for my own wife and son, and cherishing the fact I can share my non-working hours with them.
Right now, some people are going into the holidays newly single from of a divorce they did not see coming, and will experience their first holiday away from their own children.
Yet others will realize they are alone again for the holidays, because they forgot to make finding someone special to share it with a priority earlier in the year.
There are also those experiencing the new normal of entering the holiday season with one less significant person in their lives due to death.
Whether widowed, experiencing the passing of a family member, or grieving the loss of a friend (or job, or even good health for that matter) sometimes the holiday season becomes a crossroads of reflection, and the memories of some missing element from our lives, consume our thoughts.
Some will choose to stay in, not take part in rambunctious merry making, and instead enjoy some quiet time nursing their sorrow.
Some people use the holidays as a time to make a life plan to restructure their journey and set goals. Then there are those who feel so overwhelmed by it all, they unfortunately turn to self-destructive behavior patterns.
In the holiday spirit, I implore everyone reading this to keep in mind that each of us copes with loss and loneliness differently and to be supportive of one another.
You do not have to agree with how someone copes. What you need to evoke within yourself is your sense of compassion. Compassion is one of the most powerful comforting gifts human beings have to offer and exemplifies some of the best in humanity.
In fact, it is very possible to equate that compassion IS the holiday spirit we were meant to indulge in at this time.
So if you are struggling to let your heavy-hearted holiday be a happy one, at the very least, aim to keep yourself alive and healthy through it.
I wish you all peace and healing at this time, whatever you celebrate, and whoever you are. As long as there are individuals in the world who share compassion, no one is ever truly alone.
Frank Kermit
By Frank Kermit
The holidays come with wonderful expectations of joyous celebrations, family gatherings, and time spent reconnecting with loved ones. Images of happy times celebrating love surround us in holidays sales announcements and media.
However, there is a side of the holidays that doesn't always get the attention it merits. Truth be told, it is the one time of the year, which
I keep my availability to clients on a 24/7 basis, because for a significant number of people, the holiday season is not about joy, but a melancholy reminder of loneliness and loss.
Spending my holidays consoling the lonely and broken hearted, gives me an incredible sense of gratitude for my own wife and son, and cherishing the fact I can share my non-working hours with them.
Right now, some people are going into the holidays newly single from of a divorce they did not see coming, and will experience their first holiday away from their own children.
Yet others will realize they are alone again for the holidays, because they forgot to make finding someone special to share it with a priority earlier in the year.
There are also those experiencing the new normal of entering the holiday season with one less significant person in their lives due to death.
Whether widowed, experiencing the passing of a family member, or grieving the loss of a friend (or job, or even good health for that matter) sometimes the holiday season becomes a crossroads of reflection, and the memories of some missing element from our lives, consume our thoughts.
Some will choose to stay in, not take part in rambunctious merry making, and instead enjoy some quiet time nursing their sorrow.
Some people use the holidays as a time to make a life plan to restructure their journey and set goals. Then there are those who feel so overwhelmed by it all, they unfortunately turn to self-destructive behavior patterns.
In the holiday spirit, I implore everyone reading this to keep in mind that each of us copes with loss and loneliness differently and to be supportive of one another.
You do not have to agree with how someone copes. What you need to evoke within yourself is your sense of compassion. Compassion is one of the most powerful comforting gifts human beings have to offer and exemplifies some of the best in humanity.
In fact, it is very possible to equate that compassion IS the holiday spirit we were meant to indulge in at this time.
So if you are struggling to let your heavy-hearted holiday be a happy one, at the very least, aim to keep yourself alive and healthy through it.
I wish you all peace and healing at this time, whatever you celebrate, and whoever you are. As long as there are individuals in the world who share compassion, no one is ever truly alone.
Frank Kermit
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