Navigating the Holidays

12/01/21 • 32 min

The cheer and merriment of holidays can be especially challenging for people who have lost a loved one. In this episode, we offer ways to honor a lost loved one during the holiday season, and what to do with traditions you have held in the past. We talk about how it is totally fine to resent Halloween, feel ungrateful at Thanksgiving, and feel lost when you have one less person to buy Christmas presents for. We also give ideas of holiday practices to continue, stop, or start after losing a loved one.

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Early Grief

You may have heard that the first year of grief is the hardest. It is so important to care for yourself in the first weeks and months after loss. In this episode, we share Megan Devine’s “8 simple acts for an unbearable time” as a reminder to care for your mind and body after losing your person. It’s okay to ask the people around you for what you need. We offer practical ways you can ask for help. You may feel overwhelmed with emotion. You may feel numb. We unpack four feelings that are normal in the first year (and years) of grief: loneliness, anger, jealousy, and fear.

For more information about Megan Devine and her platform, visit https://refugeingrief.com/.

Next Episode

Frequently Asked Questions Part 1

One thing many people walking through grief encounter is questions. The questions people ask can catch us off guard, seem intrusive, or even inappropriate. In the first part of a two part series on questions, we are offering help to the grieving person who may not know how to answer some of the questions they are asked. We dive into some questions that we encountered after losing our brother that we struggled to answer. We give you practical ways to prepare for and respond to questions like:

“How are you?”

“What happened?”

“How can I help?”

You don’t owe anyone an answer or explanation in grief, but we want to help walk alongside those who need help formulating responses to frequently asked questions.

In this episode, we mention one of our favorite Instagram therapists, Tiffany Roe! Find her on Instagram at @heytiffanyroe.