Survive The "Alone For Holiday" Blues

No one wants to be alone during the holidays and sometimes being single doesn’t allow you to change the circumstances. However, you can do things to help focus on making yourself “merry” during the holidays.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Have a “Holiday Feast” for other single friends. To make sure everyone gets involved, have everyone bring a favorite dish to share. Even if you know only one or two people to invite, have each of them invite a friend, and have their friends invite a friend and so on, and before you know it, it’s a rousing good time.
  
• Exercise and keep those endorphins pumping, especially if you have a tendency to avoid your feelings of loneliness by sleeping too much.
  
• Choose healthy food. Pick food that will stabilize your blood sugar when you know you might be sampling lots of sweets during the holidays.
  
• Decorate your house or apartment with lots of holiday lights. Do it for YOU. Often the moods of the seasons are affected by shorter days and longer nights during November and December. Our biological body recognizes these signals and often people react in extreme ways and can’t seem to stop eating, gaining weight and sleeping excessively.
  
• If visits from certain people during the holidays in the past have affected you in a negative way, it’s time to assert yourself. Let them know that “This is not a good time for me to have guests,” or “I have other plans this year, but thanks for asking.” You do not have to make excuses or defend yourself. They may expect you to give an excuse, but you don’t have to do it. Make your own choices. Assert your right to say, “No, and thanks for asking.”
  
• Practice gratitude. Be thankful for all the things you DO have and avoid focusing on what you lack. Count your blessings. Make a list. When you really look, you can find many positive things to focus on.
  
• If you have children or loved ones who come to visit, do your best to create an atmosphere that focuses on “doing” rather than “having.” Plan lots of holiday activities together; bake some cookies together; read a story out loud; make your own holiday decorations; give homemade gifts.
  
• Read a good book; one that will help you focus on being the very best person you can be; one that will help you understand that the only relationship you have total responsibility for is the one you have with yourself.
  
• Visit a nursing home. Statistics show that many elderly people are often forgotten during the holidays. Your visit will ALWAYS be appreciated! Give them a small homemade gift or a holiday card. Spread some holiday cheer!
  
• Avoid alcohol and party drugs. If you are already feeling down, alcohol depletes the brain of serotonin, a chemical it needs to maintain normal mood. Party drugs can only create additional relationship stress. Just say, “No.”
  
• Go to one of the many holiday parties that are given specifically for singles. You can find some of them at the SavvyInsider.com Social Calendar.
  
  
• Don’t depend on someone else to make your season bright. You alone must do whatever it takes to do that.
  

Have fun. Create some new memories. Defy tradition and start your own. Have a brainstorming get-together with a few of your friends and together create a list of fun things to do this December.

Then … have a Happy Holiday!