Holiday Theme:
The theme for this month is holidays; good childhood memories and difficult childhood memories, coping and grounding and self-soothe and comfort skills from the past, what works now, and what skills you are working at doing, and creating new holiday traditions and other functional ways of getting through the holiday season and December.
Have Yourself a Happy Little Holiday
Aprel Phelps Downey from her blog Healing the Broken Parts One Word at a Time submitted this post. I will quote from her post:
“How on earth are we suppose to enjoy one moment of the holiday season with all of these feelings of anxiety, stress, panic and striving for perfectionism racing through our veins?
Start by taking a deep breath and remembering the word “boundaries.” We don’t have to do anything this holiday season that we don’t want to do.”
Throughout this post Aprel writes as though she were giving the best advice to a best friend. And it is great advice for the holiday season. Thanks so much Aprel!
Holidays Are a Time for Boundaries
Aprel Phelps Downey from her blog Healing the Broken Parts One Word at a Time submitted this post early in November on the holiday theme. It is such a great post I decided it should be included in both the November and December Blog Carnival Editions.
Memories of Holidays With My Family
Rainbow Gryphon shares extensively and with a high level of awareness and emotions of her experiences as a child and an adult at holiday times (Thanksgiving and Jewish holidays primarily), with dysfunctional family members and without. Great post that gave me a lot to think and feel about from reading this post. I include it in this month’s Blog Carnival as well as in last month’s Edition.
I wanted to write a Christmas post specifically about making new Christmas holiday traditions while choosing what I wanted to keep from my childhood that I loved. I’ve been working hard on this all month. I hope you enjoy the post.
For the first time ever I wanted to celebrate Advent and especially to try to celebrate each Advent Sunday in a way that was healing and fun, though I was doing it by myself.
Give a Gift to Your Least Favorite Body Part
Give a Gift to Your Favorite Body Part
I’ve also included links to three of my favorite resource pages on my blog, the three that I think relate the most to holidays, how to use grounding/coping skills, self-soothing/comforting skills, and how to manage your holiday coping better than before.
In addition I am including three links to Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse Editions of the past that cover the holidays for another month.
November/December 2013 of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse (hosted at Kate is Rising)
Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse November 2011 Surviving Holidays Edition (hosted at From Tracie)
Mini Carnival: Holiday Survival Tips for Survivors 2009 (hosted at Survivors Can Thrive)
Healing and Therapy:
Sheryl Burpee Dluginski from her blog Sheryl Burpee Dluginski submitted this post. I absolutely love! this post. Thanks so much Sheryl for the submission and the great post. Here is just a few of her wise words from the post:
“Some of us were raised in families whose particular brand of dysfunctions led us to adapt by being overly “good”, helpful and accommodating to others. Yes, it is possible to be too kind to others, when it ends up meaning you’re unkind to yourself.”
and again
“Personal growth doesn’t happen in a linear progression. It’s more like climbing a spiral staircase. You start at the bottom where you see a certain view of the space around you. Think of this view as your perspective on your world. With work, you take some steps up and notice that you’ve achieved a higher level of functioning. The view from here is different. You see the world from a new angle, and your new success motivates you to take some more steps, moving you toward more growth and another new perspective. ”
Please take some time and read Sheryl’s excellent post and check out her blog.Thanks so much Sheryl. I really loved and enjoyed your post.
Kate Is Rising 