Ways to Manage Emotions When You Can't Visit International Family During the Holidays
It has been a long journey since the pandemic has spread globally beginning January 2020. How long will it take to be back to normal? No one knows the answer, but we all hope that it will end soon, so that we can travel internationally. It’s relatively easier to fly domestically in the US to see friends, relatives and family if they are in another state. But, it’s not quite the case for those who have families who live outside of the United States. Traveling internationally has prevented many of us from reuniting with families to celebrate any holidays.
“Why am I feeling the way I am feeling?”
It’s okay to experience a full range of emotions during the pandemic and especially when it’s around the holiday seasons. We may feel sad, lonely and disappointed because we can’t travel back to our own country due to travel bans, visa restrictions, and quarantine rules. It’s okay to have these emotions. We tend to compare our own situation with other people. For instance, our co-worker might be able to travel home for the holidays because they only live a few hours away by car. Or, you might be seeing a friend of yours who has family members living in the same state and can easily celebrate holidays without much effort. These countless examples of seeing other people reunite with their family on social media remind us of how our circumstances are different.
It's important to understand that there are no good or bad emotions. We all have emotions to deal with as humans, and all emotions give us information about how we are feeling and experiencing the world. It’s the difficult emotions such as anger, fear, jealousy, and loneliness that make it hard for us to sit with at these moments.
Tips for Managing Your Emotions During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Holidays
1. If watching everyone else’s holiday experience on social media is difficult for you, consider not using social media on the holidays. It’s easy to compare your own situation with others. We can spiral into negative thinking about what we are missing out on.
2. Consider practicing gratitude. This is an opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the things that you are grateful for, despite the circumstances.
3. Pull out your phone to call friends or family members and have more of a deeper conversation. Check in with each other. Stay present with the moment while they are with you on the phone.
4. Try cooking a homemade dish that you know brings back memories, or that has a story to tell. Make it by yourself or with the friends that can be there with you during the holidays. Try your best to have the same ingredients that the dish needs, get the materials needed for the dish and enjoy the process of making the dish. It can make your stomach happy and allow you to experience moments of joy, happiness, and euphoria.
5. Engage in a self-care practice that can be easily done or participate in an activity that you really want to do. Knowing what type of self-care you enjoy can really help. Consider options such as taking a hot bath, doing yoga, adult coloring pages, or lighting candles to enjoy the aromatic smells in the room.
Putting These Tools into Practice
Emotions are inevitable and normal to have. If you know that you are experiencing difficult emotions, know that it’s okay to have them. If you do feel lonely, sad, and mad during the holiday season or because of the pandemic in general, I hope you’ll find these tools helpful for being kind to yourself and managing your emotions.
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Written by: Alice (XiaoRan) Zhao, LCPC
Photo Credit: Julia Larson, Alex Urezkov, Elina Fairytale, and Karolina Grabowska
Date of Download: 12/21/2021
