Celebrating Holidays Alone with Mental Illnesses: Tips and Tricks

Watch movies, meditate, practice mindfulness, and music.

Hi, I am experiencing this for the first time this year. I moved into my own apartment in the spring and my immediate family moved to Florida. I got covid right before christmas and I too deal with bipolar as well as anxiety, depression and some other chronic health conditions. I did my best to keep in touch with family on facetime and some friends here and there but I have been very isolated even after going back to work and now this weekend I'm alone again. I am just doing my best to take care of myself and rest and I see it as a break from the social obligations that usually happen around the holidays. For once it's just me and I can do (or not do) whatever I want. Sometimes it is really quiet and lonely so I will put on the tv or music just to have something in the background. If you want to be social but can't physically go anywhere or don't have immediate friends there is always someone somewhere online. I like video games and art stuff and I am in a few discord groups and a facebook group. I rarely say anything but it's nice to just see the notifications and chatter sometimes and it's nice to know I can just jump in anytime or just keep to myself when I'm not feeling it.

You don’t celebrate 😎