Christmas: A time for family and friends?

I don’t know about you but Christmas time always brings up memories for me. As a child it was a magical time for me of a real Christmas tree with real candles that you had to watch (the tree might catch fire), lots of treats and family time.

As I grew up this changed and while I studied it became a stressful time in which I had to study for exams. Later still it became a time of obligations, visiting parents and in-laws, at a time when I had a busy job and would have enjoyed a few days to myself. And so it is that these days can have different meanings for different people. So if you’d rather do something different than feeling stressed around Christmas, here’s an idea: give yourself a surprise gift! Think of a person you normally would not feel attracted to connect with because you don’t seem to have anything in common and now reverse that thought and say to yourself: This is exactly the person I need to connect with today. Start a conversation and talk about something you are passionate about. Also ask them what they are passionate about and then see what happens. Most likely you will not only alleviate your own loneliness but that of others to and on top of that you may make a new friend. I look forward to hear from you what happened!

Govert van Ginkel

This article is written by Govert van Ginkel. Govert specializes in Nonviolent and Effective Communication and is active in this field as a trainer, speaker, coach, and mediator. More information about Govert can be found here. The current training offer can be found here