By far one of the hardest outcomes to accept about the holidays after the death of a loved one is that tradition needs to be changed or skipped. Traditions your loved one used to be involved with have to change and even those they weren’t a part of may seem entirely too difficult to manage. The worst thing you can do is set your holidays on autopilot and hope things work themselves out. Not only does this put you at risk of being majorly blindsided by your grief, but it also takes away from your traditions. In this episode of the What's Your Grief Podcast we discuss how to handle holiday tradition after the death of a loved one.

People tend to have a lot of expectations about the holiday season.  This is true during times of peace and during times of turmoil. After the death of a loved one, grieving people continue to have expectations about the holiday season. Sometimes these expectations are based on past ideals that have become impossible to replicate since someone integral to existing ritual and tradition has died.  Sometimes these expectations are based on anxiety and worst-case-scenarios.  And sometimes they are based on pressures put upon us by ourselves and by others.  In this episode of the What's Your Grief Podcast we will discuss the way our holiday expectations are shaped after the death of a loved one, how rigid expectations can set us up for failure, and offer tips for managing expectations at the holidays.

P.S. - we are aware that the sound quality in the last few (forty-five?) episodes has been less than wonderful.  We've recently ordered new (and improved!) recording equipment so next time you hear from us it will be much more pleasant to listen to (fingers crossed).  We appreciate you sticking with us through our podcasting growing pains.