Topic Tuesday// End Of Year, YOUR Way // Tuesday 19th December 2023 5:30-7PM AEDT

@Healandlove My mother died when I was 7. In November. She was only 36.

It devastated her family and my father, so much that I was kind of an afterthought.

@amber22 Boxing Day is normally a 'hide under my blanket day'. Have also had a few of them lately.

Our next question; How might you be able to do the end of year period your way this year? @BigSkyCat

Boxing day is a day for me to stay home and watch TV too ❤️ @Snowie

I like the idea of the To Do list! There is an app called To Do which is great for this. I use it for my grocery shopping but will add a self care list to it too @BigSkyCat

How might you be able to do the end of year period your way this year?

If YOUR WAY of doing this end of Year eased your way through this tricky period, repeat next year and make YOUR WAY your tradition. For example, just because other people are sitting down as a group eating for hours doesn’t mean that has to be your tradition and that if you don’t do that you are failing. These ‘big’ days are blips in time and we owe it to ourselves to stay grounded and aim for how we want or need to be in these moments rather than try to copy what doesn’t work for us or is not available for us.

Remember you are not alone – there are lots of us doing it our way end of year including the many Australians who don’t celebrate Christmas as it’s not part of their culture.

We are demonstrating it’s ok not to be following societal norms and this is a positive thing – we are all individuals and the more society respects difference and less norms the better!

@Healandlove @Snowie @Glisten @batty30 @Former-Member @Stara - would love to hear your ideas on this question too!

@Glisten , I am so sorry for your loss. Navigating childhood with this trauma would have been extremely hard. I hope you do find ways to be kind to yourself and remind yourself that you are not what happened to you. I try to do this with my childhood trauma. Sending you hugs 🫂 and love.