Feeling all the Christmas Feels

As well all we have to do at the moment, many of us are carrying around heavy feelings about Christmas. These can show up as anxiety, the weight of sadness, frustration or a sense of tiredness and defeat about things that never seem to change.

It could be visiting people you find hard to get along with, or resentment over compromises you’re not fully on board with. It could be trying to stretch money to go further than it realistically can, or seeing the people you love get older. It could be wanting so much to give your kids what you didn’t have, or wanting to slow time down, or realising that your kids are growing up and that the Christmases when things were fun and exciting are slipping away or have passed.

For me, I’m feeling all the feels about the first Christmas without my Mum and some other circumstances that mean we won't have the people I would like to be with. The temptation is to turn Christmas on its head and do things very differently so we don’t feel the gap. But maybe it just has to be this way for a time and we need to let the empty space be there. Life has light and shade, and there’s a lesson in allowing room for both.

Whatever it is for you, give yourself compassion and take time (even if it’s only a few moments in the midst of all that’s going on) to acknowledge those feelings.

We might not be able to change our circumstances, but if we can allow room for how we feel about them, the load of it all can feel lighter and easier to carry. Making room for these feelings is like taking off our backpacks for a moment and unloading some of the weight, so when we carry it around day to day it’s that little bit easier to travel with.

What ‘Christmas feels’ do you need to make room for?