Ways to cope with our first pandemic Christmas
Fashion, Health and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara
Christmas can be challenging in the best of times…never mind the worst of times. Gone are the traditions that make Christmas a blast – no work Christmas dos, no house parties, no catching up with a rake of mates for the annual gathering.
Hell, most of us won’t even get to our local pub, which may never again reopen. I, for one, will miss that dearly as it’s my favourite time of the year to visit the village boozer, mixing with returned emigrants and catching up with old friends and childhood neighbours.
Restrictions will be lifted from this Friday (December 18), allowing people to travel outside their county with visitors from two other households allowed to your home.
But as we are continually reminded by the health professionals and the politicians, infection rates continue to remain stubbornly high – well above the 300 mark.
Those of us who will be lining up with our arms out for the vaccine will be waiting a good while yet – the summer is the latest estimate for the general population so life will continue to be governed by Covid-19.
Counsellor Bernadette Finn stresses that minding our mental health throughout this pandemic is a must – and probably even more so at Christmas, a time which can be very stressful for families already at the brink point.
“It is crucial for everyone to know that we are ‘not going crazy’. We are all having a normal response to an abnormal event and sometimes the best thing we can do is to be honest and authentic. To simply say: ‘This is how I’m feeling, and it’s all right to feel this way right now’.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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