Manage Grief At Christmas – 5 Ways

Can you manage grief at Christmas?

Christmas for most, is a time that’s spent merrymaking with family and friends.  Therefore we feel we are expected to be happy at Christmas.

But for some, it can be hard to feel merry.  It can be hard to find Christmas spirit.

5 Ways To Manage Grief At Christmas

Grief is individual, and there is no timeline for when it will get easier or end.  But different things help different people get through Christmas.  Here are five things that might help.

• Acknowledging in advance that Christmas might be hard.  Lower your expectations and be realistic about what you will be able to do while you are struggling.  Above all, be kind to yourself.
• Talk to your missing loved one.  You might like to visit their final resting place, or you might simply speak during a quiet moment, alone.
• Find someone who is able to listen to how you are feeling.  It might be a family member or friend.  Or it might be a counsellor.  Lifeline Australia have trained grief counsellors available to talk with you over the phone 24/7.  You can call them any day of the year on 13 11 14.
• Find ways to honour your memories of them.  Watch their favourite movie, listen to their favourite album, visit their favourite beach.  Cook their favourite meal.  Eat their favourite ice cream.
• Create a special new tradition that includes them in your Christmas every year.  Hang an extra stocking for them.  Leave a bouquet at their final resting place.  Make a donation to a charity they would love.  Or have a special Christmas ornament made, that symbolises their presence.

Make Your Own Christmas Ornament

Your missing loved ones may not physically be with you, but they are always with you in spirit.  A keepsake, crafted in their memory, can remind you of them as you miss them the most.  Crafting a keepsake in your loved one’s memory, can help you manage your grief at Christmas.

Crafting is a beautifully slow and cathartic process.  It can provide you with an opportunity to process your feelings in a safe, productive and even positive way.  The outcome is a physical item that you can hold in your hand, that physically represents your emotional journey.

“Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colours flowers, so does art colour life.”

 – John Lubbock

The Easy To Make DIY Kit allows you to make your very own Christmas Ornament.

In fact, you can do this at anytime.  There are Easy To Make DIY Kits to make other kinds of ornaments, such as hearts and paw prints.

You can even incorporate your loved one’s DNA inclusions inside the ornament if you wish (eg cremation ashes or hair).  But you don’t have to.  You might choose to craft in their favourite colour instead.  And the most wonderful part of the Easy To Make DIY Kit, is that it has been put together specifically for beginners.  Even if you’ve never crafted with resin before, you will have everything you need to make a beautiful, personal, sentimental keepsake with your own two hands.

Christmas ornaments made with cremation ashes using Easy To Make DIY Kit

And if you don’t want to DIY?  You have other options.  Send me your special inclusions and I can make it for you.