Blog for Better Living

Grieving the Loss of the Holidays: Managing Expectations During COVID-19

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | December 18, 2020

As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the country, for most of us the holiday season will look different this year. The safest way to celebrate is at home with the people you live with. This means foregoing the parties, visits with family and friends, and participating in community activities and celebrations. We face the […]

Grief, Holidays, Stress

The Impossible Dream: I Just Want to Make Everyone Happy!

By: Natalie Rice-Thorp, Ph.D. | November 20, 2020

It’s that time of year again wherein we finish off Halloween candy, we take out our sweaters, and we face the inevitable questions about where to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Holidays. These questions challenge us under normal circumstances, but during a pandemic they rise to a whole new level of nerve-wracking. If you find yourself […]

Open the Gift of Gratitude this Holiday Season

By: Jen McWaters, Psy.D. | December 13, 2019

What do the holidays mean to you? For many, they symbolize a time for family, connection, and rest. And yet we easily let the holidays drive our culture of consumption, of giving and getting gifts, or try to achieve the perfect holiday experience. No wonder the holidays make for significant stress and conflict for so […]

Holidays, Mindfulness, Stress

How to Deal with Your (difficult) Family this Holiday Season

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | November 29, 2019

This article gained popularity when I wrote it several years ago, knowing that many of us feel alone during the holidays or can relate to the sentiment. Back by popular demand is an updated version about how to cope with difficult family members this holiday season. We typically view the holidays as a time of […]

Family, Holidays, Stress

LGBTQ+ Holiday Survival Guide

By: Michael Toohey, Psy.D. | November 8, 2019

The holidays are times of joy and sharing, and so it should be for the LGBTQ+ community too. The holidays for that community can include times of particular stress as we return to our original families to celebrate the season. Some families show more affirming acceptance than others. The holidays present stress for many although […]

Anxiety, Family, Holidays, LGBTQ+

Why I Don’t Like New Year’s Resolutions

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | January 4, 2019

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like New Year’s resolutions. It’s natural at this time of year to reflect on the last twelve months and what we might do differently in the year to come. I do believe that this is a helpful practice, but I do not like the tradition of setting New […]

Holidays, Personal Improvement

Coping with Re-Grief

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | May 4, 2018

In our society, we are often expected to “get over” our grief and “move on.” Sadly, grief does not work this way as it is not an event but a process as unique as each individual griever. When you lose a loved one, coping with loss is something you do every day for the rest […]

Grief, Holidays

Take Care of Yourself During the Holidays

By: Other | December 22, 2017

Written by Paul Paris, Ph.D. The winter holidays are supposed to be a time of joy. For some of us, that expectation may not match our experience. Typically in our society, for those of us who celebrate the holiday season, the winter holidays are spent with friends and family, engaging in traditional activities, sharing certain […]

Family, Holidays, Stress

Giving Really is Better than Receiving

By: Jen McWaters, Psy.D. | December 15, 2017

You may hear the phrase “it’s better to give than to receive” more often around the holidays, that time of year associated with giving and receiving gifts. In our consumerist culture, we can lose sight of what we already have to focus exclusively on our needs and wants. Money cannot buy happiness despite what advertisements […]