Coping With Grief During The Holidays: Support For Students And Families
When grief shares the holidays with you, asking for help can feel impossible. Many people are experiencing the same hurdles you are, whether due to social stigma or difficulties communicating with family members.
Giving grief room to breathe is essential to start healing. We’re going to explore grief during the holidays, the power of family support, and how you can create an emotional anchor for your family and children.
How To Navigate Loss During The Holiday Season
Navigating loss is never easy, especially if you’re already battling mental illnesses like anxiety or depression. We want to share our first-hand insight to help you through this period and stay connected with your loved ones.
Don’t Suppress The Painful Emotions You’re Experiencing
During the holidays, you may feel the pressure to always be ‘on’. You might want to smile when you’re hurting, chat when you want to be silent, and water down what you’re feeling inside.
Suppressing or denying how you feel is only going to make grief hurt worse. While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself during the festivities, make sure to create a little time to let some of the grief out. If this means you need to step away from the party for a moment or leave the holiday dinner early, that’s okay.
Grief doesn’t operate on a schedule: it comes and goes.
Take Your Time When Experiencing Grief
Grief has a way of making you feel like you’re on an island surrounded by people who can’t understand what you’re going through. It can feel even worse if you’ve been grieving for a while and are experiencing pressure to ‘move on’.
According to a WebMD survey, 58% of people felt pressured to recover from their grief within just a few months. Part of the healing process means accepting that your journey through these turbulent emotions will take as much time as necessary.
Reach Out To Loved Ones (They May Feel Alone, Too)
Experiencing pushback or guilt over how you’re feeling can make it harder to remember others in your life could be experiencing the same thing. As such, try to reach out to friends or family during this painful period and talk to them about what you’re going through.
Not only will you feel less alone, they may feel less alone, too.
Give Children Guidance To Process Their Grief
While managing grief as an adult isn’t easy, children have fewer coping mechanisms and experiences to fall back on. As such, sitting down with your children and bringing the pain out into the air will help immensely.
Connecting with your child during such a painful period can be tricky since they don’t always know how to express what they’re feeling. Try to ask open-ended questions and gently ease them into sharing what they’re feeling.
If this process is too difficult due to your own pain, consider reaching out to our Family Support team and community resources for guidance. They can shoulder some of the weight and help connect you with resources to process what you’re feeling.
The Power Of New Traditions For Processing Grief
There are many ways to approach and process grief around the world, ranging from performing a deceased loved one’s favorite song at a family gathering to preparing altars for the deceased. A lack of traditions can make family members and children feel even more isolated and lonely during the grieving process.
Creating a new tradition is a powerful method of reconnecting with your community and carving out a space for your loved one in your life. Talk with your family and children about which traditions would help them feel connected to their loved one’s memory. If you’re still not sure where to get started, we can help.
At CHADS, we provide families and students with the social and emotional support they need to heal. If you’re coping with grief during the holidays and need help, learn more about our mission and how you can reach out here.