26. Aug, 2017

Bank Holiday Blues?

Bank Holidays can be amazing. But often they’re not. Sometimes we look forward to them so much that they can’t possible live up to our expectations...  And sometimes we feel sure they’re going to be rubbish before they even happen... and then they become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Usually it all comes down to where we are as a whole, in our lives. Occasionally a Bank Holiday can be an oasis in a desert of low mood but often it feels like a microcosm of life in general. For example, if life is generally over-busy and we never get a minute to ourselves then fitting in going away for the weekend can be the last straw. If, on the other hand, we find ourselves alone for the Bank Holiday weekend, just like every other weekend, then we can feel life is intolerably lonely and that we are rejected, unpopular or even unloveable.

Every Bank Holiday weekend has its ups and downs and often encompasses a point at which we reflect on how we got to where we are in life. And if that’s not where we want to be then we may end up feeling intensely sad or frustrated... Maybe we may feel a sense of loss for someone or something gone forever. Or perhaps we feel lost or defeated, wondering how we can ever get through our current situation, or how we can ever change things for the better.

Identifying that we feel overwhelmed can be a good starting point for counselling. Working with a neutral therapist in a safe, confidential setting can help us to get things into perspective, to rebuild our sense of self and to regain confidence. Once we take care of ourselves and rebuild our emotional reserves, it becomes achievable to work out how we can move forward in life, avoiding past mistakes. We can learn about ourselves and what we really need to be in good place, which in turn can inform our decisions and help us - and those we support - to get onto a positive, healthy path through life. So if a Bank Holiday weekend gives us an important chance to look in our emotional mirror then it need not be the end of the world, in actual fact it can be the start of a whole new era...