Holiday Healing: 10 Tips to Navigate Divorce during the Season
As the holiday season approaches, a time traditionally associated with togetherness, those navigating divorce can find themselves facing a unique set of emotional challenges. A therapist shares ten accessible strategies to cope with the “divorce blues” and foster healing during this perhaps difficult period.
1. Acknowledge Your Feelings: Allow yourself to grieve the loss of your marriage and the changes to your holiday traditions. don’t suppress emotions; acknowledge them as a natural part of the process.
2. Set Realistic Expectations: The holidays won’t feel the same, and that’s okay. Lowering expectations can reduce disappointment and create space for new, meaningful experiences.
3. Establish Boundaries: Clearly define boundaries with your ex-spouse regarding gift-giving, time with children, and holiday events. This minimizes conflict and protects your emotional wellbeing.
4. Seek Support: Connect with others. More and more therapists are offering groups remotely, expanding access beyond local areas.Explore support groups, including divorce classes, through resources like the Psychology Today registry. Group therapy can be particularly effective, leveraging our innate need for connection.
5. Fill Your Mind and spirit With Inspiring Information: Engage with uplifting content. Books on divorce recovery, meditation, spirituality, or memoirs of reinvention can offer grounding and perspective.
6. Tap (Emotional Freedom Technique): Utilize this technique to quickly calm overwhelming feelings. By stimulating ancient Chinese acupuncture points, it can interrupt negative thought patterns and promote healing.
7. Journal: Express emotions by writing. Explore divorce pros and cons, write unsent letters, or practice stream-of-consciousness writing to move pain from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex.
8. Guided Meditations: Utilize apps like Insight Timer or Calm for meditations focused on grief, anxiety, self-worth, and sleep. Even short sessions can definitely help quiet racing thoughts.
9. Be in Nature: Spend time outdoors – walk, sit in the sun, or simply connect with the natural world. Nature can effortlessly regulate the nervous system.
10. Move Your Body: Engage in physical activity like running, walking, Pilates, yoga, dance, or strength training to release stuck emotion and boost endorphins.
Stay tuned for the next 10 tips.
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