If You’ll be Lonely this Christmas
Seven Tips for Getting to the Other Side
A woman I worked with hated Christmas.
“Call me Scrooge,” she said. “But all I want for Christmas is to get to the other side of it.”
She was in her forties and single: she’d had several long-term relationships but, for various reasons, they hadn’t worked out. Every year she was invited — “obliged” — to join her boisterous family for the Big Day.
Her three siblings were married, each with a brood of their own: her parents’ mantra was Christmas is for the kids. That’s fine, she said, but when you’re an “adult child” with no kids (and no partner) you just feel like a spare wheel.
“Everyone wants me there but I’m sure they’d barely notice if I wasn’t. I’m surrounded by people I love but I always feel lonely — and guilty for feeling that way.”
7 Ways to be Lonely This Christmas (and tips to help)
Psychologists commonly hear stories of loneliness at Christmas. They come in all sorts of packages and it makes us choose carefully to whom we wish a “Merry Christmas”. Because while loneliness can be present year-round, there’s something about Christmas Day that gives it star power.
Loneliness can show up for the…
