A few years ago, I stopped going to family gatherings if I wasn't feeling up for it. I'm not talking about being in a bad mood or feeling tired or just not wanting to leave the house. I'm saying if I thought it was going to affect my mental health and it was going to push me into a spiral, I wouldn't go. The experience was just not worth it to me.
The holidays can be a really hard time to navigate family gatherings. The family drama doesn't go away just because you put up a tree and exchange presents. In a lot of ways it might be heightened. Your hopes that this year will be better and different might come crashing down ten minutes after you arrive. Your family members are toxic. All the lights and music in the world can't take your anger away. And that can be really frustrating when you've done everything you can do, it hasn't helped.
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