Surviving a Solo Holiday Season

Grief letters, volunteer projects, Meetup groups, and more

Freshly alone and learning to like it? It is one of the hardest things a person will ever have to do. While some people are loners and have found ways to enjoy the solo life, there are some of us who can’t enjoy anything without someone to share it with.

For those unfortunate souls, enter the holiday season and prepare to suffer.

For me and the new friends I have collected in the past few months from divorce recovery groups and abuse survivor support meetings, we all have one thing in common. It is our first Christmas alone without our partner in many, many years. And for most of us, our children are grown and have flown far from the nest. We are older and facing the prospect that the husbands who left us behind were the last love of our lives, and we may be consigned to the ‘table for one lifestyle’ for the rest of our days. And who is to say that it is a tragedy. We are taught by mental health experts and wellness gurus that happiness comes from within and we must be independent and complete without the need to look outside ourselves to find satisfaction with life.

Today, I had an epic meltdown that came out of nowhere. Maybe the Christmas music that has invaded every single public place. Perhaps the powerful song at church when she sang, “I was here. I…