Blue Christmas – Five wellbeing tips to lift your mood this December

ChaplaincyPlus

I wonder what you are dreaming of this Christmas…Perhaps a white Christmas. Perhaps a family Christmas. But for some of us, the month of December may feel ‘blue’. The year 2020 has been a year like no other. We have all had to adapt in the midst of great uncertainty. Christmas will look and feel different for most of us. For many, Christmas is normally a time of joy and celebration. Time spent with loved ones over food and drink, perhaps watching some Christmas films and singing along to Christmas songs as they appear on TV adverts. A time to give and receive gifts.

There is an expectation that because it is Christmas that it has to be perfect and that you have to be happy. For some this has never been how they view Christmas perhaps because of bereavement or a lack of connection to the festive season. For some, Christmas is ‘blue’. A time not of cheer, but quite the opposite.

This year the seasonal festivities will be bittersweet for countless people. Christmas will form part of a season of lament. The loss of loved ones, a job loss, the closure of a business, a loss of simple freedoms such as holidays or meetups with friends and family, dashed hopes or lost dreams for this year. It can be challenging for even the most sunnily disposed individuals to ‘get into the Christmas spirit’ in light of these challenges, trauma and sadness.

At ChaplaincyPlus we have been supporting the wellbeing of people in the business community across Birmingham. Many are feeling tired, weary and struggling to cope. If you find yourself feeling ‘blue’ when it comes to Christmas or are supporting someone who is, our Five Wellbeing Tips below may be of some help:

• Acknowledge how you feel – admitting how we feel to ourselves can help manage negative emotions and begin to address them.
• Talk about how you feel – this can be to a close friend or a family member that you trust who can listen to you without judgement.
• Find some time alone – if you are struggling there can be pressures or expectations to join in upbeat conversations or games but if you need some time alone do find some time. Perhaps take a walk, pick up that book you have been meaning to read, or just listen to some meaningful music.
• Find someone else to encourage – when we reach out to support others, we ourselves can receive as much positive emotional benefit as the person we are encouraging. Why not contact one person each day through Advent with a thought or message that will encourage them and build them up.
• Do something that you enjoy – it can be easy to allow our loss to overwhelm us completely. Try and do something you enjoy during the Christmas period whether it be a hobby or an activity with other people.

In our recent ChaplaincyPlus workshop we were offered advice for supporting colleagues at a time of bereavement.  Ian Leech, from St Giles Hospice provided a range of useful resources. The video of the workshop and links to the resources are here.

One of the tools is a ‘First Aid toolkit’ to help you capture the things that you enjoy. You can right click the image above to save the image for personal use.

Alternatively if you need a confidential listening ear leading up to Christmas please do get in touch with one of our team who would be pleased to support you: theteam@chaplaincyplus.org.uk.