December 10 - Bad time to be alone

December 10 – No Time to Be Alone
But what if you are alone? During a radio broadcast a listener called to say, “Those ideas are very nice, but what if you don’t have a family to move the nativity set around with?” In that event, try this. First, get out and take a walk, look at the decorations in the neighborhood or go to the Y. When you exercise, you start endorphins moving and you’re bound to feel better. Laughing helps a lot, too.

Make yourself a gift of love. You do it this way: Find a pretty box. Wrap it in Christmas paper. Make it pretty. Cut a slit in the top just like a Valentine box. Beside it, place a pencil and some slips of paper. Everytime you see evidence of Christmas around you – you read something or hear something that speaks to your heart. Or a friend does something special. Even a TV program that makes you laugh. Write it down and put it in the box. Whenever you feel down, or sorry for yourself, reach in and pull out just a slip or two and read it. We do all receive many gifts every day, but often we allow them to pass unnoticed. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, settle down and give yourself plenty of time to enjoy everything in the box. See how rich you really are.

Especially if you are alone, pick up the calendar right now and circle a date – one or better two or three that will be for you alone. Call a friend and arrange a luncheon or a shopping trip. Dress up, go to a nice restaurant, and spend some time choosing or buying a gift for yourself that you ordinarily would consider just a bit extravagant. My first Christmas alone when I realized that there would not be the special gifts that my husband had usually chosen, I went through the catalog just like the kids, circled a few things I really wanted, and gave them permission to use my credit card to buy a surprise for me. Then they wrapped the gifts and I had my usual mysterious packages to poke and feel and rattle. I don’t have to do that now, but it helped then. If you are living through transition, look at the things that are really important to you, and begin now planning strategies to help adjust. No matter how silly they might seem to someone else, if they help you, do it!