The Christmas carols, the red number 25 on the calendar, the glittery homes and shopping malls bedecked with decors and lights – each of these will remind you that Christmas is fast approaching. Even when your heart is still grieving for losing a loved one or longing for a family who is deployed or working abroad, Christmas will come. At that moment when everyone sits down for the traditional get together, like a midnight dinner, Christmas breakfast or lunch, there will be that empty chair, which will remind you of a loved one who can’t or who’ll never be there.

Negotiating the Holidays without a loved one

The empty chair is like an emblem of loss or longing for the person who used or is supposed to sit there. The chair can evoke memories and a host of other emotions, such as sorrow, anger, bitterness, and sometimes even guilt. It may also remind you of happy days and the joys you had with the person, making you miss the person all the more.

While some people may survive the Christmas despite the grief, there are those who may experience intensified manifestations of grief, poignantly affecting everyone in the household. While nobody can change the circumstances, you can turn to a professional therapist who can let you live with the pain for your sake and your loved ones around the Christmas table.

The Help That Matters

In time, your wound may heal and your grief may be blunted by other experiences. For the meantime, accept the fact that you are in pain or deep longing. While grieving is natural, you would wish that the empty chair will not haunt you in such intensity. If you wish to get through Christmas for the sake of your other loved ones still sitting around the table, seek the right help that can help you take charge of your emotions than let your loneliness, grief and misery take the better of you.

There is no such thing as “quick fix,” particularly when you are grieving or longing for someone you love. No matter how much time would pass, the longing will stay, but you can still move forward to enjoy life with the rest of your family. The early part of the journey may turn to be most challenging days. You stand a good chance of surviving loneliness and grief at this time if you will seek the assistance of a therapist independently contracted with Carolina Counseling Services – Fayetteville, NC. Make that call to Carolina Counseling Services. This might the best thing you can gift yourself with this Christmas.

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