Tuesday 20 October 2015

Christmas IS coming!

Two months on Sunday.  Yes, that's right, two months on Sunday it will be Christmas Day.

Does that fill you with dread?

There's the normal type of dread.  Maybe you haven't bought a single present yet - and have no idea what to get.  Maybe you haven't started soaking your dried fruit in rum.

Then there's that horrible, underlying anxiety.  That dread deep inside which says "oh no" another Christmas.

I'm sure there's been loads of research about how anxiety for many, is a major issue around Christmas.

Me, my hubsand and my son always spent Christmas with my parents.   Sometimes we'd stay for a few days, eating together, watching TV,  visiting friends and relatives.

After Mum died it was harder.  For one thing I had to start doing all the cooking!  But we still all got together.

In 2010 I took Dad to my brother's in New Zealand - we had a great "family" Christmas with the grandchildren and great-granchildren.

But then my Dad died and there's just the three of us.  And it's just not the same.

There are two major causes of anxiety for some people when they think about Christmas.
One is the thought of having to socialise, mingle, eat, drink and be merry with "the family".
The other is the thought of being alone.

One event, two ends of the spectrum, one emotion.  Anxiety.

You can read advice in all the magazines and newspaper columns.  What you could do.  What you should do.  How to change your feelings.

The way I deal with it is to treat it as any other day.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Anixety is just thinking about something.  Giving it more meaning than perhaps it deserves.

I won't presume to give you any more advice. Except this.  It's another day.  It will be over soon.