Sorrow

There is no shame in sadness – even on Christmas day.

The Christmas Season can be a painful time for many people; especially those who have experienced a great loss. The holidays with all their cheery greetings, trees and decorations, shopping and baking can force a fragile person over the edge into deep depression. Barely healed scars may open and grief is renewed.

Over a lifetime, everyone experiences losses. Some may lose their hair, their lease, their job or their appetite. Others might lose focus or patience or mobility. We may lose at poker, on the horses or the lottery. You can lose your head, your heart or your mind. You can relinquish your home to move into assisted living, or have a child move overseas, or see a spouse vanish into dementia. But we can bear all these losses. We learn to cope, to adapt, to adjust and move on. We find alternatives and solutions.

Grief for the loss of a family member may be harder to deal with, such as the long, drawn-out death of a parent or the sudden, shocking death of a sibling. A friend tells me the loss of a spouse feels like an amputation. Is it possible to recover from the death of a child? All holidays, from New Year’s Eve, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, July 4th through Thanksgiving, may cause sadness and suffering. But Christmastime appears to arouse the most pain.

One Christmas has just ended. For all future ones, each of us should remember to be kind, sensitive and considerate every time we say, “Merry Christmas”.