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A Compassionate Chronic Christmas: How to Extend the Holiday Spirit Towards Yourself This Year

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A Compassionate Chronic Christmas: How to Extend the Holiday Spirit Towards Yourself This Year

When I think of the holiday season, two competing feelings immediately come up – nostalgic happiness at the thought of celebrating with loved ones (as well as the Christmas cookies), and impending panic at the logistical nightmare of shopping, decorating, baking and visiting. Chronic illness has tilted the balance towards anxiety outweighing anticipation because  my symptoms through so many obstacles in the way of getting ready for everything the holidays entail. Last year I shared mindfulness tips for managing the stress that can accompany the month of December – through staying present, being self-aware and treating yourself with kindness.

This year I’m reflecting on the true spirit of the holidays and what I really want to celebrate. The thing is – for most people, shopping till you drop, cooking up a storm, decking the halls, party hopping, and getting up early with the kids to open presents from Santa – is the essence of the Christmas celebration. Ideally, bonding with your loved ones over good food and the fun of exchanging presents puts family and togetherness at the heart of the holiday season.

A common criticism about how Christmas and other holidays are celebrated is that perfectionism over decorating and party planning, as well as greed in the form of materialistic gift-giving, take over the true purpose of the season. The expectations that we internalize and put on ourselves can really ruin the holiday spirit. What I’ve come to learn is that, If you live with chronic illness, you will inevitably fail to do all the things you’re supposed to do this time of the year. It sucks! But I’ve also learned that we don’t really have to live with the stress, disappointment and sense of failure that result from setting unrealistic holiday goals.

By returning to the core values underlying Christmas, Hanukkah, and other celebrations – generosity, compassion, hope, gratitude and love – I think we can find a new ways to meaningfully celebrate this time of the year. I’m trying something radical this year – extending some of those holiday feelings towards myself. So often I read tweet and blogs about how those of us who live with chronic illness are overachievers or perfectionists. Most likely the person you showed the least compassion and kindness to last December was yourself – am I right?

So what does the holiday season look like if I am compassionate to myself? Making more realistic plans and setting gentle boundaries is the first step. We have three families to celebrate with – my in-laws and my Mom’s and Dad’s families. This year we told everyone that back-to-back celebrations would not be possible. The end result  is that we have Christmas Eve plans, and Boxing Day Plans, but  we are staying home alone on Christmas day. Initially I felt quite guilty about this because I know everyone would love to see us on that day, but if I’m not gentle with myself I will ultimately end up having to cancel. And that would be worse! Compassion is like the oxygen mask analogy – you have to put yours on first before you can help the people beside you.

Another way that I am treating myself with more kindness is to use a softer and gentler tone in my own mind towards myself. When I start to feel stressed about not getting perfect gifts for everyone, or whatever problem that my inner gets judgmental about, I’m trying to take a deep breath and responding instead with more compassion and understanding. A good question to ask yourself is “what would I tell my best friend if she was facing this issue?”

I recently read a book called The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion which gave me the insight that, while we can’t change the challenging experiences or difficult emotions we face, we can change how we treat ourselves as we go along. Much of our suffering comes from resisting what is unfolding – worrying, ruminating, regretting, dreading, clinging, judging – rather than from direct experience of a painful circumstance. But if we can befriend ourselves, and compassionately hold ourselves while we go through a tough time, a lot of the unnecessary suffering can be short-circuited. It’s an ongoing practice, of course!

So far, I’m already finding it helpful to use the ‘loving-kindness phrases’ from compassion meditation to wish: “May I be safe, may I be peaceful,  may I be joyful, may I live with ease and wellbeing”. I repeat these phrases both when I’m sitting in meditation or feeling anxious during the day. This is a secular practice I feel comfortable with, but many people send a prayer rather than a wish. In the Christian tradition, you are asked to ‘love you neighbour as yourself’, meaning cultivating love for yourself and caring for others. This can be done as a blessing exercise: “May I experience God’s love”, repeated for peace, safety and wellbeing.

In the guided meditation, we are then invited to focus on our feelings of love and compassion for people we are close to by repeating wishes for their happiness and well-being (May he/she be safe…peaceful…joyful…live with ease and wellbeing). Then, we extend those feelings to strangers and people we may have difficult relationships with. Finally, we practice extending love and kindness to all beings in the world. Here is an additional guided practice, along with the script, from Mindful Magazine.

If you are in conversation with someone at a holiday gathering, you can silently repeat the phrases to yourself as a wish or a blessing for them. Staying present is one of the best gifts you can give those you care about, rather than getting distracted by ticking items of your ‘perfect holiday to-do list’. Loving kindness phrases can re-anchor you in the moment to the values you are trying to put at the heart of the holidays.

This Christmas, as I try to direct the spirit of the holidays towards myself, I hope that, in turn, I can pass it on by treating my loved ones with more gratitude and loving kindness! By emphasizing these values, I think  how we choose to spend our time will change. What form of togetherness actually gives you a sense of meaning and connection?  Since pacing limits what I can do, I’m going to prioritize the things that really matter and hopefully have a heartfelt holiday season!

Chronic Blog Round-up: 6 Insightful Blog Posts About Celebrating the Holidays With a Chronic Illness

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Chronic Blog Round-up: 6 Insightful Blog Posts About Celebrating the Holidays With a Chronic Illness

Chronic illness complicates holiday celebrations. Trying to prioritize self-care while also participating in the holiday season is, at best, a tricky balancing act. Recently I wrote about how I use mindfulness meditation to get the most of this time of the year – to stay present, savour the good moments and manage stress.  I often turn to the collective wisdom of the blogosphere to learn how others approach the challenges of life with a chronic illness. I wanted to share a few of the insightful posts that I’ve read written by chronic illness bloggers. Some of them share helpful strategies and important ways to manage expectations so you can enjoy this time of the year. Others provide valuable insights that validated my own thoughts and feelings about what the holiday season is really like for people with chronic health conditions. I hope you get as much out of  reading them as I did!

Disabled Diva: Six Ways to Dominate Christmas With a Chronic Illness

More than just practical tips for getting through the holiday season, this post suggests great ideas for changing your  expectations about how to celebrate. For example, it asks whether you’re wearing yourself out trying to re-create past Christmas memories. I definitely fall into this trap every year! The suggestion to create new traditions that fit that are workable for someone with a chronic illness is really great advice.

My Brain Lesion and Me: A Christmas Symbol of Life With Chronic Illness

This lovely little post describes how a snowflake is the perfect holiday symbol for life with chronic illness. The experience we each have with chronic illness is as unique and individual as a snowflake. There are several important lessons this symbol can teach us, including that comparing ourselves with other people is an unproductive exercise.

Chronic Mom: 5 Gifts People With Chronic Pain Really Want This Year 

This post talks about the non-material gifts that people with chronic illness wish they could receive – like having their boundaries respected or not being criminalized for taking opioids to manage chronic pain. Raising awareness about the social changes that need to be made to really accommodate people with invisible illnesses is important because, really – that would be the best gift of all.

My Medical Musings: A Merry Little Chronic Christmas

I thought this post really captured the ambivalence that people with chronic illness may feel about the holidays – we hope we’ll be able to enjoy the plans that we’ve made, but we feel anxious that our symptoms will get in the way. Many people with chronic illness will be having a quiet Christmas or other holiday celebration. And while this can be truly enjoyable, we can miss the get-togethers and festive preparations going on around us.

ME/CFS Self-Help Guru: The Alternative Spoonie Gift Guide

If you care about someone with a chronic illness, this post describes the best way you can give your love and understanding to them this holiday season. For example, how to connect with them when a traditional holiday event just isn’t possible. This post really puts into words what I want to communicate to family members and friends this time of the year in a clear and thoughtful way.

Feasting on Joy: When Holidays with Chronic Illness are Hard: How to Find Rest and Survive Them 

This post is a very thorough guide to getting the most out of your celebrations this holiday season. It shares a mix of practical tips and important realizations for balancing rest and purposeful activities. This post is written from a Christian perspective on celebrating Christmas, yet I think the realization that intentionally focusing the activities you do choose on what is most meaningful to you can be helpful to anyone with a chronic illness celebrating a holiday. Prioritizing self-care and rest can take several forms and this post describes several useful strategies.

May your days be merry and bright this holiday season and may you be surrounded by the people you care about most! xx

Your Mindful Guide to Surviving The Holiday Season With a Chronic Illness

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Celebrating the holiday season presents many challenges for people with chronic illness, which can be very stressful. I’d like to share three easy mindfulness practices that have helped me to not only survive the holiday season, but get the most out of it. Mindfulness  is a practice of “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

Your Mindful Guide to Surviving the Holidays

It’s early December and that means we’re about to crash straight into the holiday season. As the shortest days of the year approach, many of us are anticipating gluttonous feasting, exchanging gifts, enjoying the company of family and friends and celebrating everything we have to be grateful for this year. Others are also anxious about the hectic schedule, financial strain or encountering certain crazy relatives (most families have at least one).

Chronic illness can complicate the holiday season further. Some people with chronic conditions feel like their family members don’t fully understand their limitations. Even the pressure to “just stay a little bit longer” or “pop by for a short visit” can cause us to push through when we really need to pull back – often resulting in a flare later on. If there are underlying conflicts with family members or friends, then spending a lot of time together attempting forced cheerfulness can also add stress. Constant fatigue, brain fog, food intolerances and pain can make frequent, large get-togethers focused around eating quite challenging, to say the least! Somehow we’re supposed to do it all without crashing from fatigue, badly flaring or getting a virus.

How To Get the Most Out of the Holidays By Using Mindfulness to  Manage the Stress

The consequence of having too much to do and too little time to do it in is stress. The symptoms of emotional and cognitive overload that accompany stress worsens chronic illness and  is a real challenge to manage this time of year. Emotional stress symptoms include irritability, anxiety, and low mood. Cognitive overload results in having trouble remembering things, difficulty concentrating, indecisiveness and constantly ruminating on what’s bothering you. If you find yourself feeling this way during the month of December, you’re not alone! My question this time of year is: how do I get through all of the challenges in order to be able to enjoy the holiday season?

I’ve come across many helpful posts challenges written by bloggers with chronic illnesses explaining how we can pace ourselves through the holidays, delegate responsibilities, adjust expectations and mitigate potential challenges. I’d like to contribute one more strategy for surviving the holiday season with a chronic illness – mindfulness.

I’m not talking about anything new-agey, religious or fringe. Mindfulness is a practical, evidenced-based approach to managing stress and reducing the symptoms of chronic illness. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine, mindfulness means “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

Meditation is a way to practice being mindfully present. During meditation, the aim is to focus our attention by concentrating on a particular object, like breathing,  scanning the body, or repeating a mantra. Inevitably, we lose focus and become distracted by thoughts, worries, plans or emotions. When we realize this has happened, we gently bring our awareness back to the present moment – this breath, this moment.

“That sounds great,” you might say, “but the last thing I have time for is learning mindfulness meditation right now.” Do you have five minutes a day to watch television? Then you have five minutes to sit and listen to a guided mindfulness practice. Just sit. Just breathe. Just listen. That’s it. Here are three easy mindfulness practices that have helped me to not only survive the holiday season, but get the most out of it.

1) Take A Mindful Pause

One of the first casualties of a hectic schedule is time to process your experiences. The brain needs rest so that it can effectively take in information, process emotions and make good decisions. Otherwise we can become mentally and emotionally overloaded by trying to push through the stress and get on to the next thing. Mindfulness is a switch from the ‘doing mode’ (thinking, planning, worrying, shopping, baking, visiting… you get the idea) to the ‘being mode’ (think watching a sunset or savouring the taste of a great meal). Taking a few mindful breaks throughout the day gives us the mental rest we need to prevent becoming overwhelmed.

A mindful break can be as little as 1 minute but is usually 3 to 5 minutes. It involves intentionally shifting your attention to just sitting and breathing in the present moment. This year I’m planning on incorporating these pauses into my day. If I’m visiting, I might take a few extra minutes in the washroom just to breathe. Even if there’s nothing I need to do on a particular day, mindful breaks can still help reduce anxiety about future tasks and plans I’m worried about, by bringing me back to the present. The Free Mindfulness Project offers a number of excellent guided mindful pause meditations to download (as well as longer mindfulness meditations).

One of my favourite meditation teachers finishes his guided mindful break meditation by asking “what’s the next best thing you can do for myself right now?” Sometimes you can’t solve all your future worries but you can do something to improve things right now, such as making a cup of tea or delegating a task.

2) Put Love & Kindness at the Centre of Your Holiday Celebration This Year

Every year I face a battle with my own expectations about what the holidays should be like. It’s very easy to internalize expectations about what you ought to be able to do and feel guilty if you can’t live up to those self-imposed standards. Maybe you wish you could give your kids the perfect Christmas morning, go to every holiday party you’re invited to or cook the perfect traditional meal for your entire extended family. When you have to cut back on your activities, it can be hard to feel like you’re letting down some of the people you care about most in order to look after your health.

Unrealistic expectations, whether internalized or externalized, only cause unnecessary stress. Instead of trying to have a holiday worthy of a Lifetime movie, what if we refocus our energy on putting love, kindness, gratitude and giving at the centre of our celebrations? These practices can be incorporated into traditional family celebrations – like this idea of having each family member dedicating an ornament to something they are grateful for before hanging it on the tree.

But how do you stay in the spirit of the season despite the pressure of expectations? The ‘loving-kindness meditation’ can help you deepen compassion, and increase your feeling of connectedness to the people around you. In the guided meditation, we are invited to focus on our feelings of love and compassion for people we are close to by repeating wishes for their health, happiness and well-being (“May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they be free from suffering, may they be peaceful”). Then, we extend those feelings to strangers and people we may have difficult relationships with. Finally, we practice extending love and kindness to ourselves – a powerful and important component of the practice, especially if we are feeling guilt over our limitations. Here is an additional guided practice, along with the script, from Mindful Magazine.

3) Take in the Good

Are you more likely to remember compliments or criticism?  If you’re like most people, you pick the latter.  That is because the human brain has a built in “negativity bias”, which allows us to learn from and protect ourselves from bad experiences. Unfortunately, it can also make us stressed and anxious. During December, I often spend most of my time worrying about how I will make it through all my plans . Once it’s over, I sometimes feel like I’ve missed out on enjoying the best moments because I was worried about the next thing. One way to rewire your brain so that it takes positive experiences into account, along with the negative, is to be intentional about what Rick Hanson calls “taking in the good”. This is akin to the old saying to “stop and smell the roses”. But exactly how do you go about making this a habit?

The first step is to be mindful of positive moments (to notice the roses) – the warmth of a good fire, sharing a laugh with loved ones, the taste of turkey and mashed potatoes. Practicing mindfulness meditation can help with this part, but you can also just start with the intention to take in the good today. Second, pause for 20-30 seconds and focus your attention on savouring the experience, instead of moving on to the next thing. Then, let the positive experience sink into you.  You can do this by visualizing a warm feeling spreading through your torso or by mentally recognizing that by doing this exercise you’re rewiring your brain to tilt towards positive experiences.

If you do this several times a day, you can change the neural pathways in your brain so that positive experiences are ‘registered’ more in your overall outlook on the day.  This practice has been really helpful for my mental and emotional health while I deal of the challenges of chronic illness. Sometimes symptoms get in the way no matter how much pacing or stress management we practice. This can be disappointing. But I have found that taking in the good and enjoying the small moments really helps me to balance out the disappointments. One year I was too sick to leave home and had to miss Christmas Day with my family, but eating homemade cookies at home, with the tree lit up, while watching a Christmas movie was still a nice, cozy evening.