Handling the holidays
While Christmas should be a time of joy, parties and family gatherings, there are people all over the world who are lonely. For others, the Christmas vacation means fun, relaxation and seeing relatives who live far away. It’s the time for families to spend time together. The reasons for sadness over this holiday can be because of grief, loneliness, illness, economic concerns or divorce, to quote a few.
Some people experience temporary feelings of depression like the ‘holiday blues’ or Seasonal Affective Disorder while many other live with mental illness every day. The holiday season is especially difficult when a person with a mental illness is dealing with feelings of sadness, loneliness, depression and anxiety which are the exact opposite of the ‘Merry Christmas’ images they see all around them – before, during and after the holiday season. My wish is that a miracle cure will be found for all the mental illnesses, as well as for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s Disease and other brain illnesses that have yet to be addressed.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
