The holidays are always mixed for me. In my family, we celebrate solstice and christmas. December is jammed packed with family, holiday spirit and lots and lots of food. Love the build up to Christmas and the spirit that fills the air. It is a time of year I look forward to .
Like with everything in life, there is another side of the holidays. For me, the holidays bring out an extreme amount of anxiety. You can imagine the usual stuff: family, food, presents, shopping, so much to do and so little time. But at the same time, depending on where I am in the world, the holidays can bring out a sadness in me. This year my family is going through a loss in the family. It puts a different energy onto the spirit of Christmas because we have someone missing. It’s hard.
The truth is that Christmas can be really hard for some people. Even though we like to assume it’s always joyful and cheerful it doesn’t always represent the best memories for everyone.
As travelers, we sometimes are so focused on the excitement of traveling, the constant adventures, new experiences and beautiful places, that we forget about the challenging parts. One hard experience is being abroad for big family events and holidays. For me, being away from family on Christmas brings up a lot of loss, sadness and fears.
I have been abroad twice for Christmas and each time has been really really hard. I miss my family and the holiday spirit that comes with the season. As hard as I might plan my travels around Christmas I sometimes can’t avoid being away. And it sucks! Each time I have been away, I remember feeling so sad and left out. My family was all together, celebrating together and here I was halfway across the world in a hostel.
With all the challenges and the emotions that have come up I have figured out somethings that help me feel a little less sad when I’m away on the big day. Below are a couple of strategies I use. Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments.
5 Strategies to Help Overcome Holiday Sadness When You Are Abroad:
- Facetime is amazing:
- The best thing about technology for travelers is facetime. It has given us the opportunity to be everyone all at once. Now we can phone home and see friends and family and participate to a certain extent in the festivities.
- You are not alone:
- The best part of staying in a hostel, for me, is constantly having the opportunity to meet new people, if you want. Reach out to other travelers who might also be sad because they too are away on christmas. Celebrate together.
- Do the little rituals that remind you of home:
- If you like Christmas music and Christmas cookies, then listen to music and bake some cookies! There is no rule that says you can’t celebrate Christmas while you are traveling. Just because you are in Thailand doesn’t mean you can’t have milk and cookies.
- Journal:
- This one always helps me because it helps me process my feelings. Write about how sad you feel, or lonely, or whatever you are feeling. Get it out of your head and onto the paper and then walk away.
- Go out and do something:
- At the end of the day DON’T FORGET that you are traveling the world! You are having an adventure of a lifetime. Christmas is just one day you have 364 left to do everything and anything you want to do.
