Blogmas Day Nineteen - Kindness At Christmas

Christmas is the season for magic and happiness. However, that’s not always the case for everyone. For some people, the holidays can be a really hard time of the year, for a number of reasons.

For Blogmas Day Two, I talked about my own battle with grief over the Christmas season and how that’s affected how I celebrate the holiday over the past five years. Grief over a loved one is a big factor that impacts how a person views the holidays. It’s particularly tough if you’ve recently lost someone or if you’ve lost them close to Christmas time. It can, of course, hold very painful memories for you which is perfectly understandable.

Another thing that affects how a person feels during Christmas is Mental Health. The big taboo that people are still scared to talk about because of the stigma attached to it. However, Mental Health is so real and is something a lot of us deal with on a day to day basis. There’s no shame in it, and for some people, the holiday period can amplify that.

A lot of people fight these things but have to carry on and make Christmas special for their kids, loved ones or for any other reason. Some people don’t celebrate because of these factors. Both of these sides of the coin are okay. We don’t hold the right to judge; especially over Christmas.

With this in mind, I often think about what a widely celebrated holiday like Christmas should be about? Of course, for some people, it’s the religious aspect. For some, its quality family time. For some, it’s the food and presents and embracing the indulging side that Christmas presents you with. It is, of course, about all of these reasons and many more.

However, for me, the most important thing Christmas should be about is spreading kindness. Kindness is obviously something that should be practiced all year round. It doesn’t take much to be kind and with the world we live in, everyone could do with a bit of kindness in their lives.

As I discussed, Christmas isn’t always the easiest time of the year for people. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of homeless people out there who have no choice but to fend for themselves on the bitterly cold streets come Christmas Day. There’ll be people who have comforts such as a house, but no family to celebrate the holidays with. There’s the person faking the smile at Christmas Dinner because they want to be strong for those around them. Then there’s the person grieving their loved one in their hearts as they try to keep Christmas as special as possible. We’re all fighting demons that nobody else knows about and for that reason I think we could all do with being extra kind to each other at Christmas.

Whether it’s simply smiling at someone, sending a Christmas card, doing voluntary work, donating to charity or telling someone you’re thinking of them; no act of kindness is too big or too small.

This post isn’t meant to come across as preaching or telling you what you should be doing at Christmas. It’s simply that, for me, kindness at Christmas time in particular is so important.