While your Instagram feed says the holidays are about joy and love, for many people, Christmas brings a sense of hopelessness about managing tricky family members, inappropriate comments and probing questions.
“When any groups gather, there are going to be mixed emotions about the event itself, the family dynamics, which perhaps have been in place for most of people’s lives, and also troublesome behaviours,” says Elisabeth Shaw, chief executive of Relationships Australia NSW.
There are ways to be better prepared for interactions you dread, including some clever comebacks for rude uncles and nosy in-laws.
To try to clear the air ahead of time, Elisabeth Shaw says you could reach out to someone you fear there’ll be issues with ahead of the occasion and say something like, “I want better for us”.
Relationships Australia NSW
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
