Hi everyone! My name is Diana Garcia and I’m a licensed mental health counselor in Florida and founder of a private practice called Nurturing Minds Counseling.
We’ve been doing 12 days of holiday tips that you can use whether you celebrate a holiday or not. Either way, the tips are still applicable! Today we’re on tip number eleven, and I encourage you to check out tips 1-10, whether that be blogs or videos.
Watch Video: “12 Days of Tips for the Holidays: Day 11: Seeking Support”
Read Blog: “12 Days of Tips for the Holidays: Day 11”
Today’s tip is about the importance of seeking support. Whatever your holiday looks like this year, it’s really important to seek support. Especially with the year that we’ve had where there have been a lot of people who’ve been isolated because they’ve had to. If you’re one of those people that have had to isolate this year, and you’ve dealt with some loneliness, the holidays are a time that can really escalate that feeling.
Tip 11 is being conscious of seeking healthy support systems for you. Notice the word healthy. I say healthy because I know sometimes, especially when we are lonely, we can seek support in areas that aren’t the best just because we want connection and to not feel alone. Be conscious of what the healthy avenues in your life are and who those people that you can go to are whether it’s a family member, a friend or friends, or a roommate.
There’s a whole bunch of online support groups that you can also attend. If you’re in recovery there’s Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and all these different support systems that you can do virtually, but it’s really important to have a system of support around you. This is especially important during this time.
Additionally, if you notice that there’s more going on and you have more tasks to do, support can also look like asking for help. Don’t take on the undertaking of needing to do everything like buying all the gifts, wrapping them, planning all the events, sending the cards, putting up the lights and the tree. My examples are of Christmas, but this is applicable to whatever the holiday season looks like for you. Try getting support from others and asking for help so you don’t have to be a one person show.
Know that you can ask for support and help from other people from your support system, and that’s okay! Today’s tip is being clear about who your support system is, how you can turn to them, how you can ask them for help and making sure that you’re building in that time with your support system during the holiday season. I hope this tip was helpful and join us for our final holiday tip!