COVID is Upsetting My Holiday Self-Care
How several of my holiday traditions have been upended by the pandemic.
I have written extensively about how important self-care is to mental health. And, with the onset of winter and the holiday season in full swing, there is a lot of depression and anxiety this time of year. The COVID-19 pandemic and the political situation are only exacerbating everything.
So, with everything going on, self-care is incredibly important right now. We are all doing our best to take care of ourselves and keep up our mental health as best as we can during these crazy times. Unfortunately, the pandemic has kneecapped many common forms of self-care, including a number of my personal self-care habits for this time of year.
I have a bit of a sordid history with the season that runs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Having spent three decades as the introverted black sheep of an extroverted family, the holidays were always a source of dread for me. I would be expected to attend the holiday festivities — Thanksgiving at grandma’s, Christmas Eve at my parents’ house, and two Christmas Day celebrations.
Each event was inevitably loud and rambunctious, with lots of drinking and telling stories and doing the Christmas Eve White Elephant gift exchange, which I was expected to…
