Are you starting to prepare for the upcoming holidays? Worried about how this approaching season will feel as a single mom?
Whatever the unique challenges you’re facing, here are three tips for getting through this next holiday season - no matter what it might hold for you and your youngster.
Plan Ahead
“When you plan ahead… you’ll feel more in control of your day-to-day life,” says an article in the Huffington Post.
As the holiday season approaches, make sure you take a good look at it from a distance.
If your child will be at dad’s for the holidays, make plans for yourself with friends or loved ones. If you will be spending the holidays with your child, take some time to think about and plan.
Spending just a little time making plans for the upcoming season will lessen the stress when the days arrive, and will put you at the helm of your holiday experience.
Build Traditions
If you’re a newly single mom, this holiday season may look different than past years. Remember, that’s okay. Now’s an opportunity to start fresh, and build some new traditions.
Maybe you get a live christmas tree from the nearby plant nursery, instead of heading to a christmas tree farm. Or, maybe you head to the movie theater on Thanksgiving evening as a special treat.
Creating new traditions is a way of embracing your situation, moving forward, and creating a bright, independent future for you and your child.
Be Spontaneous
“How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!” wrote Jane Austen.
If this is the first round of holidays for you as a single mom, then it will be hard to know how it might feel ahead of time. So, with that in mind, be willing to stay spontaneous.
Take an unexpected trip to a friend’s house, stay home instead of going to that big dinner, or get seats at a fancy restaurant on a whim. Be willing to go with the flow, and discover the magic of the unexpected.
You are a Superhero. Give Yourself Credit.
If you take any advice from this article at all, make sure that it’s this: tell yourself how amazing you are, again and again.
Being a single mom is not for the faint of heart. And weathering the holiday season is tough. You deserve to know how amazing, courageous, and magical you are - and you should also recognize how lucky your children are to have you.
Summary of Parts I and III: Part one of this series looks at how to embrace this holiday season, and care for yourself during stressful times. Part three looks to use community to float you through holiday stress.
