3 Questions to Reinvent Christmas For You

The holidays can be a very difficult time to navigate since leaving religion, especially when you are:

• Missing the traditions of your religious past
• Unsure how to be around your family now as a non-believer
• Getting triggered by all the religious symbolism
• Not sure how to celebrate the holiday now

If you are someone who deeply loved this time of year in the past, there might be some grief to experience still over the traditions and rituals you've had to let go. And even in the midst of the sadness, there can also be a sense excitement emerging. With the death of the old makes room for newness and rebirth. There are so many NEW traditions to start for you and your family. It just takes time, a little creativity, and the questions below to start!

So as you begin to explore what NEW things are being invited into your Christmas traditions, here are 3 questions you can ask yourself to help empower you in figuring out how to celebrate Christmas now that you have left religion: 

1. What do I value? What is important to me now?
2. How do I want to feel this season? What word(s) can I focus on?
3. What do I need? How can I start giving myself those things?

Give yourself some uninterrupted time to thoughtfully sift through your answers and find what you want to focus on this season and why it's important to you. From there, you should be able to slowly start building the new traditions you'd like to incorporate into this Christmas.