Mental Health: Coping with a Covid Christmas

I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2020 was a mess of a year. From covid and lockdowns to the economy and job loss, and then the election…it’s been a bit like a bag of those jelly beans from Harry Potter where they all taste pretty bad, and yet, here we are still stuffing our faces with nasty sour jelly beans.

I don’t know your specific situation, nor do I know what your personal relationship is with your mental health. However, my mental health has been all over the place this year. My personal circumstances for the year included planning a wedding during a global pandemic and that honestly would have been enough on its own, but with the lockdown and everything else, it just about broke me.

But that’s a story for a different day.

What I want to talk about today is coping with a Covid Christmas. Whoopty doo, am I right?

The holidays are already a difficult time because there are so many conflicting emotions and so much to do. There’s joy all around but also sorrow for those whom we’ve lost in the course of the years and of course, the seemingly never-ending stress of frequent holiday gatherings and gift exchanges.

It’s a time that we always look forward to but are also thankful when we can finally rest our bellies (and wallets) and not have to wrap another gift.

That said, a Covid Christmas comes with its own hurdles, and, quite frankly, none of them are the same as a normal Christmas.

The Problem

If you’ll remember all the way back to March, when we were told to stay home for two weeks to flatten the curve, we were also told to decorate our homes for Christmas. Even the Hallmark Channel was playing holiday movies and there was a camaraderie amongst the citizens of the world to come together and fight this virus.

I think we all felt that by Christmas (9 months after the lockdown began) things would be back to normal. Decorating our homes for Christmas felt hopeful for the future and a world where we would be able to spend time with our loved ones and not have to stand on X’s on the floor in order to stay spaced out according to CDC guidelines.

Well, now here we are 9 months later and it actually is the holiday season and nothing is normal and it all feels a bit silly and sad at the same time. If you’re an avid Christmas lover like myself, you might even feel like all the joy has been knocked straight out of the holiday season.

The Answer(Ish)

I don’t want to claim that I know all of the answers to all of your problems; however, I have been taking a few practical steps this holiday season to help with my feelings of both frustration and sorrow (and yes, joy too).

When I find myself in a mental or emotional funk, I have found that one of the best ways to get out of it is to get physically active. I’ve tried to stay on a rigorous schedule with my workouts since quarantine began and I have noticed that in the weeks that I stick to it, I feel emotionally better and more able to tackle each day.

It’s amazing how a 30-minute fitness routine can really affect your mental health. However, this Christmas season, I’ve been having Christmas dance parties instead of my normal workouts and it has been so life-giving (sing-a-longs are always welcome).

If you’re feeling funky, it’s also good to look outwards. I find that I tend to slink back into old habits and selfish tendencies when I’m in a funk. This is probably partly a subconscious impulse to protect me and to lick my wounds and find healing within.

Disclaimer: if you look for healing from within, you will never find it.

So, this holiday season, how can you bring joy to someone else? Maybe a surprise Christmas gift sent to a loved one's home? Or perhaps singing carols on the sidewalk for others to hear just because. Maybe you write letters for a nursing home. Whatever you do, if you’re doing something kind for someone else, it’s a sure way to feel more joy.

Another thing that helps me get through the emotional funk is having a specific time with the Lord each and every day. After Halloween this year, I began to feel progressively sadder and sadder. I finally realized that it was because the holidays were coming up and I knew that they were going to be wholly different than they ever have been before.

I was really avoiding bringing my holiday woes up with God in my quiet time, but when I finally did, I just cried it out and He was so faithful to listen to my cries and remind me that the Christmas season isn’t about presents or food or parties, it’s about Jesus and He’s coming whether we feel the holiday spirit or not.

So, I’ve been journaling and worshipping more and more this holiday season in anticipation of our Emmanuel, God with us. Because this year, I have really felt a need for God to be with us. It’s been a brutal year and what better reminder than Christmas to help us to remember that God is good all the time — no matter what our current circumstances might be.

Here’s the ultimate truth I’m getting at:

Jesus was born into a broken world and He will come again in 2020 into a broken world.

This Christmas season actually reminds us just how broken we actually are and that makes the hope of Jesus’s birth that much more joyous. This year is going to look totally different, but Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. When we rest our joy and our emotional well being on Him, we will never be swayed.

Don’t let Covid steal your Christmas joy. Find ways to be creative and enjoy your holiday season because Jesus is GOOD. And he is worthy of all of our praise.

Merry early Christmas to you!