It’s Ok to Not Be Ok During the Holidays

This 🎄Christmas season, I want to pause and say thank you. 🎄✨

Thank you 😊to each of you who has followed along with me this year, supported my work, and especially to those who have coached with me or taken my programs. I am deeply grateful for you and honored to walk alongside you on your path of growth and change. 

This holiday season has felt especially tender for me, as I support several of my dear friends who are presently going through some heavy grief, 🥲loss, 😞 and loneliness ☹️.   Having lost my dad at Thanksgiving 30 years ago and my mom 3 years ago right after Christmas, I know firsthand that it is okay to not be okay during the holidays.

Recently, dear friends of mine experienced the unimaginable — their 22-year-old son passed away while away at college. And just today, I learned that my cousin’s husband tragically drowned while on vacation, leaving behind his wife and four children. My heart feels heavy as I hold so much loss, knowing the difficult path that so many that I love are walking. 

Last week, in the midst of this heaviness, I was gifted tickets to attend a candlelight🕯 string quartet concert. The room glowed with soft candlelight, and the music felt like a quiet invitation to simply feel the deep loss.  One song 🎶 they played, In the Bleak Midwinter, moved me deeply. As I listened, tears fell, and these words stayed with me:

Hundreds of Soft Glowing Candles Flickered during the Mournful Song, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

“In the bleak midwinter, frosted wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone…”

It reminded me that we all have seasons when life feels cold, heavy, and still. And yet — even there — hope is born.

Because of Jesus Christ, there is hope.

Because of His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection, the darkness does not get the final word. Joy is not gone forever. It may be quiet right now, but it will return.

So if this season feels heavy for you, please know you are not alone. And perhaps the most important thing we can do right now is reach out in love, support one another, and be the hands of Jesus to those who are hurting.

Because what I do know is that when we acknowledge and allow our hearts to feel our sorrow, our capacity to understand and support others in their pain increases. And. helping others, can often help us to feel some relief in our own suffering.

I am sending you so much love, warmth, and sparkle my beautiful friend. 💖✨

May you feel God’s presence close to you in your own bleak midwinter moments.

And know that you are deeply loved. ❤️