Stressful lead up to Christmas

Hugs @LostAngel . It's a busy time for you it sounds. Please remember your own self-care at this time. Caring for anyone is a full time job. It can also take a lot out of you. I hope you find time for yourself, even if it is to just sit and have a cuppa without stressing about what to do next. Or even having a showering and really feeling the water run down your back. These are all accessible self-care exercises you can engage in.

I wish you all the best, and hope you hear from you soon. Please reach out if you feel you need to chat to someone.

Hugs, tyme

Hi @LostAngel

This time of year is so exhausting at the best of times so no wonder you're feeling it with looking after a family member. I definitely agree with @tyme about making sure you look after yourself. If you burn yourself out, you'll be no good to anyone else. Do something nice even if it's for just a half hour each day.

Sending hugs

Hanami

HI @LostAngel,

It sounds like things are pretty stressful and exhausting for you and your family member at the moment. It can be very hard to take care of someone around the clock when they are sick. Do you have anyone that can help you take care of your family member? It's a lot to take on by yourself physically and emotionally.

I agree with you that you need to take care of yourself while you are going through such a challenging time but I also understand that can be challenging when you are prioritising caring for someone else. It is good that you stay in contact with the ER doctor.

I'm sorry your family member is sick and at this time of year it must make it even harder. All you can do about Christmas is the best you can. My Christmas last year was different to what we usually do due to COVID too. It wasn't the same as usual but we still made the best of it and did what we could. Hopefully over the next few days your family member will start to get a bit better.

I would just encourage you to take the pressure off yourself a little by allowing Christmas to be whatever it will be this year. You need to take care of your family member and yourself first and foremost.

Warm regards,

FloatingFeather

thank you for the support @FloatingFeather @tyme @hanami and anyone else ,Im back again ,thankfully the family member has improoved over last few days but still understandabley christmas will look different this year its also that particular family members birthday tomorow so Im so disorganised for both the birthday and christmas in terms of presents mainly ,but have done the best I can to get something delivered tomorow ,but then Im mindfull of having to pull together something for christmas too,again not to do with the food so much as I kind of have some idea there but again the presents is an issue and as limited shops in our area deliver this close to christmas I have to probly gift practical items like small things from supermarket,toiletries ect any ideas would be helpfull also any ideas on how to make a stuck at home christmas a bit more fun for us generally thanks in advance weve watched christmas movies,listened to christmas music ,decorated the tree any other ideas thanks ,usually christmas isnt like this at all in fact last year we travelled to the city and had a typical big family christmas but not this year and it has got me down at times,but I have to say Im thankfull for your support and also that of my long distance partener thats definetly helped me get throuh

Hey @LostAngel ,

Thanks for the tag. Hope you got everything done that you wanted to.

Please take time for some self-care.

Kindest, tyme

Hi @LostAngel,

Thank you for letting us know how you are getting on. It's really nice to read your family member has improved a late. Wishing them good health and positivity. Hopefully the birthday celebrations went well and the birthday person had a great day.

All you can do is your best - I'm sure the people around you will totally understand that there has been a lot going on lately so maybe Christmas and birthdays will be a little different this year but that's okay. Nothing wrong with different. Last year (due to covid restrictions), Christmas for our family was different but it will still good. In some ways different was better because it was a change. We played board games and the memory game which my kids (even though two are adults) loved! I just got random items from around the house (about 20). Everyone playing had 30 seconds to try and remember all the items and then I covered them in a tea towel. They then had 3 minutes to try and remember them all and write them down. It's a great game that is fun and free. Maybe that something your family would like to have a go at?

Another fun and free game is to make a list of things that can be collected around the house and give a list to each `player'. The list can be anything such as `something to cuddle', `something for your hair' etc. Players have so many minutes to collect the items on the list. They then bring their items to the person managing the game who ticks off each players' list. The winner can be the person that collected the most items and/or the person that thought the most outside of the box.

Hopefully however your Christmas Day is spent it will be a really lovely day for you all. Please let us know how you and your family member are getting on when you can.

Warm wishes,

FloatingFeather