ROdown Blog
Looking after yourself over the festive season + summer break
The shopping centres have been telling us for months that Christmas is ‘around the corner’ .. but the time has (almost) really come – only two sleeps to go!
Shoppers are fighting for scarce car parks (more than usual), people are buying and wrapping last minute gifts in a frenzy, and children (and some extra keen adults) are lining up to sit on Santa’s lap at their local Westfield.
There's no doubt that for a lot of us Christmas can be a lot of fun – yummy food, friends and family, and that fantastic gift you’ve been hinting at not too subtly to your local Santa, or generous gift giver.
However, for some people, Christmas can be a pretty seriously stressful time of the year. It’s a time that can bring families together – which can be wonderful for lots of us, but can also be pretty overwhelming, especially if you already have strained relationships with your family.
Or, on the flip side, this might also be a particularly tough time for you if it feels like everyone else’s families are getting together, and yours isn’t (you might have lost a loved one, or have a split family and not be able to see everyone on the day).
There are a whole lot of tips on how you might get through this time on the fact sheets on The family and Christmas, Managing relationships over Christmas, and Managing grief at Christmas. There are also some stories from other young people about how they deal with Christmas (Christmas for me, Two portraits of Christmas).
Sometimes getting some space away from everyone else, or talking to someone about how you’re feeling can help. Or, you might even want to talk to someone before Christmas about how you’re feeling, and work out a bit of a ‘Christmas plan’.
Summer care pack
The ROtreat forums are closing for the next few weeks (reopening for commenting 11 January), and so the community has got together to create a bit of a Care pack for the Festive season / Summer break.
Check it out, read it, or perhaps even take that extra step of pressing the ‘Share’ button on the top right hand corner of the fact sheet or this blog post, and share it around via email or your facebook page.
You might give someone the perfect Christmas gift without even knowing it.
Thanks + see you in 2010!
So – Merry festive season everyone, on behalf of the Reach Out crew! We’ve had a fun year with you here on the blog and can’t wait to see you again in 2010.
Make sure to share your ideas about how to get through Christmas + the summer break here...just below...in the comments section :)
Email this page
Not a member?
Join Reach Out to access a range of great member features.
Forgot your password?
2 Comments
Log in to join the conversation. Join Reach Out.
anna
almost 2 years ago
Reply ReportI'm glad it was helpful McLeod :)
McLeod
about 2 years ago
Reply ReportI seriously can't wait until the Forums re-open for commenting! I'm missing it~
This is a really good blog post and the Summer Care Plan is super fab.
Thanks RO.
(: