December 9th, 2007 by Marcia

Marianne sat on the edge of her seat, leaning towards me and, through her sobs and hiccoughs, stated very clearly, “I don’t want to do Christmas!” “I can’t, I just can’t.”

Marianne was one of my clients, a middle-aged woman whose husband had died the previous year. She had gone through the first holiday season, one year ago, in a state of numbness after the unexpected death of her husband in November.

As she looks back at that time, she realizes she had a kind of protective cushion around her, with all the paperwork taking up much of her time, as well as having a lot of family and friends around to distract her from the silence and stillness.

Now, one year later, there are no more protective buffers keeping her at bay from the intense feelings of grief, and the loneliness. She, like many others, approaches the holidays with anxiety and dread.

What You Can Do

First of all, you have more than two choices here. If you are having a hard time facing the upcoming holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, there are some guidelines to lessen your anxiety and to make things easier on yourself. Read the rest of this entry »

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