This article was published on November 30th, 2017
Christmas and the other festivities of the season are right around the corner, and it is easy to jump into the swing of things this holiday season. But Christmas is also that evil time of year that reminds single people just how lonely the green and red day can be. Feeling down during the holidays is an all too common response. Getting through the holiday blues takes effort and determination. Don’t have a blue Christmas by learning how to deal with holiday depression.
Depression is a common emotion throughout the month of December. The imminent new year is coming and Christmas is a time for being with loved ones and exchanging gifts, celebrating with your favorite people. What is typical for some isn’t always the same for everyone else. In the words of Jess Glynne- don’t be so hard on yourself. Christmas can be whatever the hell you want it to be.
If you’re feeling down about being single, jump in with some of your friends who are doing group things with peers. No one invited you to anything? Fuck them, and make your own plans. Some businesses stay open on December 25, like movie theatres, bars, and restaurants. While it isn’t advised to go to a bar and drown your sorrows away, it is recommended that you get out and go do something, even if it is by yourself.
Not invited but still feel in the holiday spirit? Throw an orphan Christmas get-together. There are many people orphaned at Christmas time, mostly due to living away from family, moving to a new city, have friends or family that have left for the holidays, or that never came home for the holidays. Hosting an orphan Christmas dinner can be a fun social gathering. A great way to find fellow Christmas orphans is by posting about it on your social media accounts.
Watch a holiday comedy. Not one of those cheesy Christmas romantic comedies. Those are great, but seeing to people somehow defy all logic and odds and, in under an hour and a half, fall madly in love, might not be the best for someone commiserating about being alone at Christmas, like Home Alone or The Girswald’s Family Christmas.
A great way to forget about how trivial your problems are compared to the rest of the world is by spending your day in service to a cause or charity. By serving in a soup kitchen, cooking/feeding the homeless, or participating in a beach cleanup, for instance, you are not only helping others and helping the world out by putting out positive energy, you are helping yourself, too. You can walk away knowing that on Christmas, you did something selfless and helped make someone else’s day better.
Lastly, just keep in mind that Christmas is only a day. Fortunately, it takes place and what is almost always the fastest month of the year to be here then gone before we know it. Just because you are alone or have to work or are single or even just not feeling the whole hoopla of the holiday, remember that you are not alone.
Being single is still fabulous. You are fabulous. Just because you aren’t spending one holiday out of the year with a bunch of schleps that you are only barely connected to by blood, you aren’t eating way too much food, and aren’t drinking way too much eggnog to swallow the whole ‘politics with uncle Mike’ conversation, doesn’t mean you should be depressed. In fact, you should take your independence and run with it! Go do what you want this Christmas. Turn your Grinch frown upside down and make Jesus Day about you. T’is the season, after all.
