How to Navigate Grief During the Holidays
The holidays are often portrayed as a season of joy, togetherness, and celebration—but for many who are grieving, this time of year can feel heavy, lonely, or emotionally overwhelming.
If you are missing someone you love, navigating an anniversary date, or carrying unspoken pain, the holiday season can bring up sadness, longing, guilt, anger, or even numbness.
These reactions are normal.
They do not mean you’re “going backward.”
They do not mean you’re doing grief wrong.
Grief becomes louder when the world around you is celebrating.
Therapy—whether weekly sessions or grief-focused therapy intensives—can give you space to process the pain, honor your loss, and move through the season with compassion and grounding rather than emotional overwhelm.
Why the Holidays Can Amplify Grief
Grief tends to resurface during the holidays for many reasons, and often it catches people off guard.
1. Traditions Bring Memories to the Surface
Holiday routines—decorating, cooking certain meals, watching family movies—can instantly remind you of who is no longer here.
These moments can spark warm memories and painful reminders.
2. Cultural Messages Pressure You to “Be Happy.”
Holiday messaging often centers around cheer, gratitude, and connection.
When you’re grieving, these expectations can feel suffocating or invalidating.
3. Empty Chairs Feel Louder During Gatherings
Whether the loss was recent or many years ago, holiday gatherings highlight the absence of loved ones.
A quiet reminder can suddenly turn into a wave of pain.
4. Emotional Exhaustion Is Common This Time of Year
The sensory overload, increased social obligations, and disrupted routines can make emotions harder to regulate—especially when you’re already grieving.
None of this means you’re failing. It simply means you’re human.
Healthy Ways to Honor and Remember Loved Ones
There is no “right” way to grieve during the holidays.
But there are meaningful, gentle ways to stay connected to the person you’ve lost while caring for yourself.
1. Create a New Tradition
This may include:
Making a favorite recipe
Visiting a meaningful location
Starting a small ritual in their honor
2. Write a Letter to Your Loved One
Share what you miss, what has changed, or what you wish you could say.
Many clients find this deeply grounding.
3. Light a Candle or Set Up a Small Memorial Area
A simple moment of reflection can create space for both grief and love.
4. Allow Quiet Time
Give yourself permission to step away from social events, stimulation, or pressure.
Grief needs room to breathe.
5. Say No (Even if You Never Have Before)
Protecting your emotional bandwidth is not selfish—it’s essential.
6. Ask Others for What You Need
Whether that’s space, understanding, or help with traditions, you are allowed to express your needs.
How Therapy Can Support You Through the Holiday Season
Grief therapy can help you:
Make sense of overwhelming emotions
Work through guilt, anger, or regret
Create emotional structure during a chaotic season
Feel less alone
Find grounding tools for moments when grief hits unexpectedly
Reduce shame around how you’re coping
Why Therapy Intensives Are Powerful for Grief
Therapy intensives offer several hours a day of focused healing—ideal for those whose grief becomes sharper, heavier, or more disruptive around the holidays.
Intensives provide:
Dedicated space away from daily demands
Faster processing in a shorter time frame
Deep emotional regulation work
Tools you can take into the new year
A sense of completion and relief that weekly therapy often takes longer to build
Instead of white-knuckling through the season, you get intentional time to heal.
Learn more about Intensives here.
How ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy) Helps with Grief
ART is an evidence-based therapy that helps process painful memories, images, and emotions without having to retell the story in detail.
For grief, ART can help you:
Reduce intrusive memories
Shift overwhelming emotional pain
Heal the traumatic aspects of loss
Release stuck images from hospital scenes, last conversations, or goodbyes
Strengthen positive memories of your loved one
Reconnect with meaning, peace, and acceptance
ART is gentle, efficient, and deeply supportive during emotionally difficult seasons.
How ART Intensives Support Holiday Grief
ART intensives allow for:
3–6 hours of uninterrupted emotional processing
Space to address trauma memories, guilt, or regrets
Clearing the emotional “noise” that makes the holiday season harder
Reworking painful images and core beliefs (e.g., “I should have done more,” “It’s my fault,” “I don’t deserve joy”)
Creating a future template for moving through the holidays with calm and groundedness
Many clients experience significant relief after just one or two ART sessions within an intensive.
Takeaway
If the holidays feel heavier this year—or if grief has resurfaced in ways you didn’t expect—you deserve extra support, compassion, and space to heal.
I offer both weekly therapy and grief-focused therapy intensives for Minnesota residents, integrating:
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
IFS and parts work
Somatic regulation
Trauma-informed grief counseling
You’re not meant to carry this alone.
Schedule a Consultation
Melissa Cribb, MS, LADC, LPCC, is a licensed therapist with over 14 years of experience supporting clients in Osseo, Minnesota. She specializes in trauma, substance use, and high-functioning perfectionism. Melissa integrates evidence-based approaches such as Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and somatic techniques to help clients reduce anxiety, break unhelpful patterns, and build a stronger sense of emotional safety and self-trust.
At Reflective Pathways, she is dedicated to providing compassionate, expert care—both in person and online—for clients across Minnesota.
