Weekly Inspiration: Managing the Holidays

We are getting ready for a long road trip to my hometown, Rochester NY, for the first time in 2 1/2 years to spend Thanksgiving with my extended family. I am very excited to see everyone again and be reunited, but I am also worried and anxious about caring for myself away from home, the exhausting effects of all that social interaction, and being with certain family members who refuse to even acknowledge my illness, let alone be supportive. To be honest, my stomach has been in knots the past few days thinking about encountering these people (to be clear, most of my family is kind and supportive). And now I have a new concern, worrying about leaving my father-in-law in his assisted living facility for a few days without us being able to visit, as his dementia continues to worsen.

So ... yay, holidays!

I know I will enjoy our visits, and it will be wonderful to see my family again, but this time of year does present some unique challenges for those of us with chronic illness.

I wrote an article for the ProHealth website, which I reprinted here on the blog (and adapted for my book), Managing Family Relationships During the Holidays ... and Beyond. You can read the full text of the original article at that link.

I just re-read it yet again, and it's a good reminder for me, even after so many years. I think my relapse/worsening since March 2020 has increased my anxiety levels quite a bit, but whatever the cause, I was a lot more accepting and zen back when I first wrote this article!

So, I relearned some hard lessons, and I hope you also get some helpful tips from this article.

Happy Thanksgiving!