Finding Hope In The Holidays This Season (Part 1)

For the whole world, this year has been something that nearly none of us have previously experienced. It’s given us a different view and perspective of what health is and what it means to truly thrive, as well.

Living with IBD for nearly 16 years, I’ve literally spent all of these 16 years of holiday seasons trying to find simpleness and gratefulness in things. I’ve tried to do all this while also trying to make sense of what life is and will continue to be like limiting myself to different foods and activities when my disease has been more active.

Holidays are really hard for people

Holidays are hard for many people for a variety of reasons. Some people don’t celebrate holidays at all. But for those that do in some capacity, when you learn you have a form of IBD, you learn quickly you must adapt and tread water or IBD will pull you under - quickly.

For a lot of us with IBD, holidays can mean giving up a lot of the things we once knew and loved - more specifically, all types of food you treasure that your relatives make and pass down to each generation. Some types of food are just food right out of a can; sometimes the best things come out of a can!

Obviously, the world finds itself in a different situation this holiday season. So what are somethings that we can do to continue certain traditions, make new ones, while still attending to our own needs and be present in the hearts and minds of others?

Making new traditions this year

This year, my partner and I have decided to make our own traditions. This is going to be a relationship challenge for us, and you know what? After this year, I’m up for it.

Recently, we've experimented more in the kitchen. We have both attempted cookies - anyone who personally knows me knows this has not gone well for me this year. I burn them or the parchment paper gets stuck inside the cookies, which were unsalvageable.

To make things even funnier/worse, my boyfriend attempted cookies this past weekend and despite using cooking spray, we had to soak the pan of cookies in soap and water to scrape every last piece off. We laughed so hard, I may have peed a little. I needed that - to lift my spirits and remind me that we are all human and we aren’t perfect.

Making the most of our adjustments

This year is a perfect example of how we can adjust our sails when the wind is blowing us in the opposite direction of where we want to go.

Another thing we are trying is to watch some of each other’s favorite cult movie classics while we attempt to put together puzzles. Between my trips to the bathroom and my inability to focus on things for long periods of time, due to a diagnosis of ADD, he often ends up laser-focused at the kitchen table and I’m halfway on the couch, halfway on the floor covered in blankets watching the end of the movie - if I haven’t fallen asleep by then.

We’re making the most of it. We’re making the most of when we are able to see each other and trying to fill each other’s voids of not being able to see our families much or at all during the last year.

I'm not sure we'll decorate this year, even though we'd like to keep things as normal as possible. The thought of decorating to me right now seems more like an energy-sucker than anything. Maybe we'll put the tree up; maybe I'll pick a date night where we simply put the lights on and hand-decorated easy, thrifty, cheaper ornaments we can hang on our tree to give to others when it's safe.