{"id":3325,"date":"2025-12-11T01:26:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/?p=3325"},"modified":"2025-12-11T01:26:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:26:44","slug":"tips-for-surviving-grief-loss-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/?p=3325","title":{"rendered":"Tips for surviving grief\/loss at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grief and loss often hurt more at Christmas because the season magnifies absence, expectations, and memories. There is no right way to \u201cdo\u201d Christmas in grief; survival is about permission, pacing, and small, kind choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give yourself permission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Allow yourself not to be \u201cfestive\u201d or \u201cover it\u201d; sadness, anger, numbness and even flashes of joy are all normal and can coexist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Drop the \u201cshoulds\u201d about how you or others think you ought to feel or behave this year, and name the truth: \u201cThis is a hard time of year for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plan and set boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Think ahead about what feels bearable: which events or traditions you will keep, change, or skip altogether, and let others know as simply as you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Build in exits: drive yourself, have a signal with a trusted person, and give yourself permission to leave early or cancel on the day if it\u2019s too much<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honour the person who died<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Create simple rituals: light a candle, hang a special ornament, cook their favourite dish, play their music, or visit a place that feels close to them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Make space to speak their name and share stories (funny and tender) with those who are safe; this often eases the pressure to \u201cpretend they were never here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care for your body and nervous system<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Try to keep some regular sleep, food, and movement; even short walks and basic meals can stabilise a dysregulated system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Go gently with alcohol or other numbing strategies; they can briefly blunt pain but often intensify emotion and conflict later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soften the loneliness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Choose a few people who \u201cget it\u201d and let them know what you find helpful: talking, quiet company, practical help, or check\u2011ins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 If family or friends feel complicated, consider grief groups, memorial services, or online communities where others are also grieving at Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make room for mixed feelings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Expect emotions to ebb and flow hour by hour; grief doesn\u2019t follow the calendar and it\u2019s common to swing between tears and laughter in the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 If a moment of warmth, peace or enjoyment appears, allow it without guilt; these moments do not diminish your love or your grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you share a little about what this Christmas will look like for you (who\u2019s around, what\u2019s changed since last year), some very specific, low\u2011effort strategies could be sketched that fit your reality rather than a generic list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you enduring Grief\/Loss? Know someone who is?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would it help to talk to someone?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACA-accredited therapist Con Healy works at Wisdom with Whiskers Counseling.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact : 0438 559 515.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email: wisdomwithwhiskers@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grief and loss often hurt more at Christmas because the season magnifies absence, expectations, and memories. There is no right way to \u201cdo\u201d Christmas in grief; survival is about permission, pacing, and small, kind choices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,128,144,215,129,216,1],"tags":[8],"class_list":{"0":"post-3325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anxiety","8":"category-christmas","9":"category-depression","10":"category-grief","11":"category-loneliness","12":"category-loss","13":"category-uncategorized","14":"tag-counselling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3331,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325\/revisions\/3331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisdomwithwhiskers.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}