Linda B is a leading international life coach from Iceland and is a LET Communication Consultant, Trauma Resiliency Model expert, Former President of the Icelandic Coaching Federation and Board of Icelandic Women’s Business Association. We’ve partnered with her to help our readers with their problems via our problem page and free advice in articles.
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
As Christmas approaches the spirit of joy fills the hearts of most of us. Christmas lights shine brightly in every window, cinnamon and apple aromas are in the air, the carols are heard at the squares and we gather as a family to cook, wrap presents and eat skate (fish — that’s an Icelandic tradition on the 23rd). However there are unfortunately many individuals who feel terribly lonely at this time of the year. So lonely that they just want to shut themselves away and not think about the holidays.
It is sad that at this joyful holiday season those who are alone and those who have little money if any, are more aware of their loneliness and poverty than at other times of the year. And just seeing happy people laughing and running around like busy bees before Christmas fills their hearts with sadness and old memories from Christmas long gone. Christmases they once had filled with joy, children’s laughter, cookies, mistletoe and an over decorated tree. Few of us understand what these people are going through and many of us probably will not at all understand.
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
It’s not like they can’t be happy for those who have a house full of joy and laugher at Christmas, no it’s far from that, they can be happy for them but it undeniably reminds them of what they are lacking at this season of joy. Lack of love or companionship, lack of money, and lack of care are sadly all too common. Waking up alone on Christmas morning is awfully hard for some of us.
The memories of those we are perhaps missing from our past or the joy of Christmases we had once becomes alive again. The yearning for the time when our homes were filled with the joy of Christmas becomes strong, and the realization that this time may never come again makes us a little gloomy and some of us might also be grieving for our loved ones that have passed away.
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
There are those who don’t belong to a family and are walking alone on this earth who find themselves alone as never before at this time of joy and celebration, and then there are those who are so broke that they are filled with fear and anxiety because of all the expenses that the Christmas holidays calls for. They do not even know if they will be able to give gifts, not even to their children or grandchildren or being able to treat them with good food and drink.
Then there are those who have no homes and the empty cold streets are where they spend their Christmases without the luxury of food or heated environment. It is sad that there are people in a situation like that in our welfare state, but that’s the way it is nonetheless so perhaps we should be thankful for what we have even if it isn’t much and perhaps we should reach out at these giving times to those in need and give what we have — even just a listening ear sometimes works miracles.
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
But what is there to do when we have the Christmas blues? Are there any solutions to that melancholy feeling? And what can we do to make these days joyful despite all that I have listed above? I wish I had a miraculous answer that might suffice, but I don’t. My main advice, however, is that everyone seeks in their heart the peace and spirit of Christmas that is buried there somewhere deep down in our hearts. Then we should do something that makes that same heart happy and spread our love like confetti to those who need it even more than we need it.
It costs nothing but makes many of us happy despite our circumstances. Find the positive small things in life because there is always something you can be thankful for if you look close enough. Go and help in a soup kitchen or buy a meal for those who are living on the streets and just hold on to the hope in your heart that next Christmas will be better and filled with happiness and abundance, so no blue Christmases. Then just trust life to give you all you need to overcome anything that is bothering you.
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
If you are fortunate enough to have woken up this morning and have good health that sadly so many are denied of, give big thanks, put up a smile and go and find your favourite Christmas song and dance around the living room and create a sparkling energy that fills up the room and then smile as if this is the greatest Christmas of them all despite everything. Enjoy!
Lastly my dear readers, my Christmas mantra this year will be: “This is a beautiful life that was given to me and I’m going to rejoice even though things are not as I would like them to be”. This is the secret to happiness I think put out in one sentence. And to all of you precious people out there, may the joy of Christmas fill your hearts and blessings be the theme of your new year that is almost right around the corner. Let’s hope that the year 2021 is going to bring normal life back to us.
Merry Christmas!
Linda B x
To submit an anonymous and confidential question to Linda for free advice email info@lavidaliverpool.co.uk or contact her on FACEBOOK!
