Holiday Single Sadness

And a few ideas on how to to help.

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#91, December 24th, 2024

Hey Shani,

I’m sure you hear this all the time, but I’m really sad about spending the holidays single. Again. I know there’s nothing “wrong” with being single, but every year it still hits me hard. Any advice on how to stop feeling so sad about it?

Hey You,

The short answer is yes, of course. If you don’t want to feel sad around the holidays, I’ve absolutely picked up a few tricks over the years. You are more than welcome to them and I’ll list them below. Before I do, I also want to explore the crux of the question, which is the fact that singlehood is causing you sadness, and the sadness is more acute at the holidays. For the record everything is more acute at the holidays, so you’re not alone there.

It’s always okay to feel sad about being single. There is a certain joy that comes from being in love, or being partnered, let’s not pretend it isn’t real. It’s okay to long for something you want, and there’s no shame in that. So maybe the first step is acknowledging that there’s nothing wrong with feeling sad right now, or ever. Your authentic feelings are never wrong. But I do understand that sometimes we’re just ready to feel something else.