This is part 2 of the situations that can feel tough around the holidays. We explore how we deal with grief, family dynamics and clashes and ways we can take care of ourselves and look for ways to enjoy what is available to us. Tips from a counsellor to consider for the holiday season. 

 Main topics of this episode:

Part 1 unpacked topics like anticipatory anxiety, routines, loneliness, overspending and transitions 

196. When The Holidays Feel Hard (stress, anxiety, loneliness, overspending, transitions)- tips from a Counsellor

Dealing with grief over the holidays

When you need permission to grieveThe 4 tasks of grievingCanadian Grief Support mygrief.ca

Family dynamics

Owning your own values 

149. How to find what matters to you (uncovering your personal values)

Family roles 

8 common family roles134. Do you typecast your kids? (Labels + how they impact our parenting and our kids)

Boundaries help maintain a relationship vs barriers which block a relationship

Knowing when to use each one

Coping well, taking care of your capacity over the holidays 

The Meeting Your Needs Series

Bringing the fun with you, you are allowed to enjoy moments

162. Think the best of me, or not. Allowing the hard and awesome in ourselves and in our lives.Finding Joy In Your Every Day (#theperfectmomentsproject)163. Have fun with your kids, on purpose + reasons we don’t have funFive Tips to Make Your Christmas Simpler and More EnjoyableWhen Did I Stop Enjoying My Kids? (and my journey back to enjoying them)

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FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited)

0:10Hi, It is Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend counselor from simple on purpose.ca Welcome to the simple on purpose podcast. And I'm just going to jump right into it. This episode is a follow up to 196 When Christmas feels hard, in that we introduced the concepts of making one shift for yourself this Christmas in the US things that feel hard. And we talked about anticipatory anxiety that you might be feeling stressed around the lack of routine, the pressures that we feel on Christmas spending money, being alone at Christmas being in a time transition. So those were all really great intros in situations that were shared. And I'm going to pick up and continue on with the topics of grief, family dynamics and boundaries. So the topic of grief was shared in the scenarios that women shared about the things that feel hard at Christmas. So there are things that we are grieving, we might be grieving this deed of the world right now, we might be grieving, a loss of what we thought this year would be. Maybe we're walking through a loss a loss of a person that you love, a loss of a relationship, a loss of a family, or friends system as you knew it. And if if someone has lost someone in the recent years, they're going through these seasons of life without that person for the first time. If someone has had a divorce or changes in their family, even if it was wanted, they're still left with this blank space that was once filled with familiar patterns and people and traditions they could rely on. And they know there are people grieving losses that happened over the past few years and didn't really get a chance to mourn during COVID Things have gone unaddressed. And new griefs can trigger old griefs. I wanted to share an experience that I had with grief around Christmas time. A few Christmases ago, during COVID, my mom had what was suspected to be a mini stroke, and she already had dementia. So from this, she was put into the hospital and then moved into a care facility. But at that time when it first happened, and she was in the hospital, she couldn't talk. She wasn't very responsive. She had to be spoon fed, she was in a wheelchair. And this was such a dramatic contrast to where she had just been. I mean, my dad had taken care of her for years.