"It's not only grievers who might be entering this season with trepidation. A quick sampling of holiday headlines shows the misgivings about the winter holidays are widespread. Articles promising "Tips for Coping With the Holidays," and "Advice on How to Survive the Holiday Season" are as ubiquitous as recipes for making the perfect egg nog and timetables for how long to roast a turkey."
"There are as many nuances to the emotional cocktail grievers might be feeling as there are grievers - which is to say all grief is unique, and it's impossible to predict exactly what your grieving friend will want or need this holiday season. (It's also not a guarantee that we can predict how we'll feel if we're the one grieving, which I wrote about here.) The good news is there are many ways to support your friend and show up in a meaningful way nonetheless."
Holiday season can trigger anxiety, overwhelm, and dread alongside traditional festivities. Many people — not only those grieving — feel ambivalent about winter celebrations and encounter ubiquitous advice about coping. Grief produces diverse, individual emotional responses, making it difficult to predict what a grieving person will want or need during the holidays. Effective support centers on flexibility and following the grieving person's lead. Some grievers may break with tradition or radically change holiday practices to reduce reminders of loss. The most helpful approach is being present without fixed expectations, since grief does not necessarily become easier with time.
Read at Psychology Today
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