Getting Through Is Enough This Week
There’s a quiet pressure that shows up every December — the idea that the holidays should feel meaningful, joyful, or at least emotionally tidy.
But for many people, especially women and caregivers, this week isn’t peaceful. It’s demanding. Loud. Full. Complicated.
And if you’re just trying to make it through, that’s not a failure.
That’s reality.
This Is a “Hold Yourself Together” Week
The days leading up to Christmas often come with invisible labor:
managing schedules and expectations
navigating family dynamics
holding space for other people’s emotions
pushing through exhaustion because “it’s just a few more days”
Even when things are “fine,” they can still be heavy.
This is not the week to grow, reflect deeply, or reinvent yourself.
This is a week for containment.
Sometimes the healthiest goal is simply:
Get through it.
Mixed Feelings Are Normal — Even Expected
You can feel grateful and resentful at the same time.
You can love your family and still feel drained by them.
You can appreciate the season and still want it to be over.
There’s nothing wrong with you if the holidays bring up sadness, grief, irritability, or numbness — even if everything looks good on the outside.
Many people carry more emotional weight this week than they let on.
You Don’t Have to Process Everything Right Now
There’s a subtle pressure to “use the break” to rest, reflect, or heal.
But emotional processing requires space and safety, and this week rarely offers either.
It’s okay to:
put feelings on a shelf for now
stay in practical mode
save the deeper work for later
You are allowed to wait.
Emotional processing requires space and safety — and this week rarely offers either.
For many women, individual therapy can become a place to slow down and make sense of what’s been held, once the holidays pass.
Rest Can Come After
If you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, or counting the days until things slow down, that doesn’t mean you’re doing the holidays wrong.
It means you’re human.
There will be time — after the noise settles — to breathe, reflect, and figure out what you need next.
For now, getting through is enough.
A Gentle Note
If the holidays leave you feeling depleted, raw, or emotionally stretched thin, therapy can be a place to land afterward. You don’t have to unpack everything right now — support is available when you’re ready.
