Cathy Campbell is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has worked in a variety of different roles including, Hospice Grief Counselor, an Adjunct College Professor, a Causality and Death Notification Coordinator, and a Mental Health Counselor for our military. To continue our holiday grief series, Cathy shares advice on how to best navigate, set proper boundaries and expectations, and how to create a bit of control when things get too hectic as families come together.

Key Takeaways:

• Holidays are difficult enough! Add grief on top of that and you get a very painful experience.
• We have cliche perspectives on what the holidays should be like and they're sometimes unrealistic to achieve.
• Find ways to take charge of your lie and take on something you can control during the holidays.
• Just give yourself a break. .
• It's okay to let people know what your expectations are.
• Don't want to go to a social gathering? Set time limits for yourself.
• What do you do if you don't want to spend time with family members you don't like?
• Don't let someone else make the plans for you. Take charge.
• When Susan's husband passed, she didn't even know what she wanted herself. She was completely drained, how do you best navigate that?
• How can a friend show up for a grieving person?
• The most important thing to keep in mind is to not make assumptions.
• Calling your friend and asking them 'what do you need' can actually go a really long way.
• How can you better show up for yourself when you're just not feeling it?
• Do what you have to do to get through the holidays.
• Every holiday is not the same. You will have some good pens and some bad ones.

Resources:

Newly Widowed, Now Socially Awkward by Eileen L. Cooley Ph. D