With the holiday season fast approching, and so many of us being a lone for it, how do you handle the depression that this season brings?

I am not strong enough health wise to travel this year, it has been a couple of years since I have been with family. It is a lonely time of the year for so many I know. It is just feels like the loneliness is coming early this year.

So how do you handle it?

Your family can't come to you. My parents are coming to my place for Christmas. I have no way to travel to them

I am building friendships by trying to be friendly with everyone I meet.

meh I sleep a lot.
that is, when I can sleep.

I hang out on Mingle2........I have nothing else.......nobody else........

I go through this every year, and each year, it's the thing that makes me dread the holidays so much. I've been alone and working the holiday so long now, it's a matter of survival not to succumb to the loneliness.

I try to stay busy. I do volunteer work and I get out of the house as much as I can and get among people. Mostly, I just work as much as I can, keeps my mind occupied. And, then there's the Christmas Card Exchange... Giving into the loneliness just brings me down and wears me out. Sometimes tho, ya just gotta feel it to get on the other side of it and that's okay too.

My mother has had MS for a quite sometime now. It went into remition, but over the past 6 moths it is taking a turn for the worst, sadly they do not have full knowledge of what I am going though, so it is pretty much at a stale mate. Neither one of us can travel.

I'm sorry sweetie, you can spend Christmas with us here on Mingle. We'll be your family

Since my family isn't around this part of the country, I fill it with my friends. We usually have big friend's gatherings the week before each holiday. We do all the normal stuff. But because we do it early, we usually manage to avoid a lot of the stressful factors hit most people.

So when the actual holiday hits, it is nice to be able to relax, with a good book or a good movie, a glass of wine, maybe a bubble bath, and not have to deal with last minute crowds and last minute cooking and rushing of to find someplace that might be open because we forgot to get an ingredient.

On the whole, I think it is better this way.

just like you handle everyday.... one day at a time...

Holidays are the worst but the only advice I can give is one day at a time. By reading cleaning tv and of course here.

Sorry to hear you were sick I do hope your doing much better.

I try to avoid the stores, the TV, the radio anything that keeps shoving the Christmas crap in my face. My family is easy to avoid. I do what I do every day, work, eat, sleep & pay bills.

Working OT this time of year is helpful. I get some satisfaction knowing I am not only making more money, but I am keeping it because I don't buy into Christmas.

I'm lucky enough to live close to most of my family. I do have friends in this situation so I try to spend as much time with them as I can and smother them with holiday cheer

Ella that is a really cute picture!

Thank you everybody for your helpful suggestions, and support, I got my Christmas cards and stamps today so I will be doing those tonight, so that should help.

And you know if I can not be with my blood family, there is no place I would rather be, then right here with all of you.

I hope that everybody that is also having to deal with the loneliness that this holiday brings, that they can still find love and solitude, whether it be on here, somebody close or even far.

I know I am not alone here and it is kinda nice knowing that.

So again thank you.

I get on here, try to stay busy doing something to take my mind off of the B.S.

Thank you Tex, I will be just got out of the hospital yesterday, and know I will be back there again, but for now I celebrate the fact I am home.

For Whisper

i have not done holidays for almost 20 years



holidays have become a farce


they are commercial enterprises with no meaning

other than economic and what you gonna get me


no thx i can do with out it thank you very much


if i do not get you stuff through out the year

then

why should i get you something because ""they"" say i should

and the same with seeing you

if it takes a holiday for an invite or for a visit (unless yer so far away that that is only when there is enough time) then you might as well stay home or keep your invite

I don't even bother dealing with the holidays. To me, holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are nothing more than days on the calender. In fact, I've often said that those are two days where people SHOULD be working.