It is Christmas Eve and the stores have been closed for about five hours. For those of us survivalists out there, we have made our last trip to the grocery store and we either have what we need or we will "suffer" without it for 32 hours while Hurricane "December 25" comes and goes.
Yes, we have heard nothing but Christmas music and talk about Christmas on TV, on the Radio, in the newspapers, and in the everyday talk amongst co-workers, neighbors, friends, and acquaintances. We will still not get away from Christmas until December 26 when Christmas Day has passed.
Assuming that you are amongst the survivors, did you get ready? Do you have your coping skills and strategies in place? Do you have your affirmations that you will repeat to yourself? Do you have your plans for how to respond to abusive and intrusive relatives at family gatherings? It is time to be ready because the time has arrived.
Some people never get ready
I do think that some people never get ready. I remember one particular patient. While she had chronic mental illness, she actually presented as quite intelligent. She claimed to have no friends, no money, and no family to go to at Christmas. She was a very difficult patient in that she contradicted everything I suggested and she regularly canceled sessions just before the scheduled time with an insincere-sounding 'sorry.'
She liked to call at the last minute on the last workday before the Christmas holiday and complain that she had nothing and she was lonely. The first time I felt sorry. The second time, I believed it was a bit. She didn't want to take the advice and she made her choices.
I concluded that she just liked the victim role. She controlled others with it and she made a lot of enemies while taking liberties under the guise of victimhood. However, to this day I occasionally wonder if she just liked to yank chains or if she was really as bad off as she claimed to be? Whatever it was she was a miserable person that either did not want to plan or wouldn't tell you if she did.
Some plans do fall through
While some people refuse to plan, some people have plans fall through. In this life, we have plans, and then we have what actually happens. Some people will find themselves alone this Christmas for numerous reasons when they originally had plans.
If our plans fall through, we have to look at the choices available to us. The choices are not always attractive and it can be a matter of which is least objectionable--you plug your nose and choose the less-stinky one.
We have all had plans fall through. The good news for most people is that they have resilience and can problem-solve and create a "plan B" or even plans C, D. or F. Christmas will not likely be as good as originally planned, but the experience of Christmas will be found to have some good in it.
The important statement is we have to look at the choices available to us. We will not all have the same choices. But we have choices. I can only make my choices while you can only make your choices.
December 25 has 24 hours like every other day
If you are still dreading Christmas for whatever reason and cannot come up with any other plan but to stay in bed, I offer that it has 24 hours like every other day on the calendar. December 25 will end and society will get back to its normal rhythms of life and then we can get lost in the normal madness of regular life.
Yes, we have heard nothing but Christmas music and talk about Christmas on TV, on the Radio, in the newspapers, and in the everyday talk amongst co-workers, neighbors, friends, and acquaintances. We will still not get away from Christmas until December 26 when Christmas Day has passed.
Assuming that you are amongst the survivors, did you get ready? Do you have your coping skills and strategies in place? Do you have your affirmations that you will repeat to yourself? Do you have your plans for how to respond to abusive and intrusive relatives at family gatherings? It is time to be ready because the time has arrived.
Some people never get ready
I do think that some people never get ready. I remember one particular patient. While she had chronic mental illness, she actually presented as quite intelligent. She claimed to have no friends, no money, and no family to go to at Christmas. She was a very difficult patient in that she contradicted everything I suggested and she regularly canceled sessions just before the scheduled time with an insincere-sounding 'sorry.'
She liked to call at the last minute on the last workday before the Christmas holiday and complain that she had nothing and she was lonely. The first time I felt sorry. The second time, I believed it was a bit. She didn't want to take the advice and she made her choices.
I concluded that she just liked the victim role. She controlled others with it and she made a lot of enemies while taking liberties under the guise of victimhood. However, to this day I occasionally wonder if she just liked to yank chains or if she was really as bad off as she claimed to be? Whatever it was she was a miserable person that either did not want to plan or wouldn't tell you if she did.
Some plans do fall through
While some people refuse to plan, some people have plans fall through. In this life, we have plans, and then we have what actually happens. Some people will find themselves alone this Christmas for numerous reasons when they originally had plans.
If our plans fall through, we have to look at the choices available to us. The choices are not always attractive and it can be a matter of which is least objectionable--you plug your nose and choose the less-stinky one.
We have all had plans fall through. The good news for most people is that they have resilience and can problem-solve and create a "plan B" or even plans C, D. or F. Christmas will not likely be as good as originally planned, but the experience of Christmas will be found to have some good in it.
The important statement is we have to look at the choices available to us. We will not all have the same choices. But we have choices. I can only make my choices while you can only make your choices.
December 25 has 24 hours like every other day
If you are still dreading Christmas for whatever reason and cannot come up with any other plan but to stay in bed, I offer that it has 24 hours like every other day on the calendar. December 25 will end and society will get back to its normal rhythms of life and then we can get lost in the normal madness of regular life.
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