{"id":3036,"date":"2016-12-07T16:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2018-01-08T16:29:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T16:29:01","slug":"away-from-home-for-the-holidays-how-to-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/blog\/away-from-home-for-the-holidays-how-to-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"(Away From) Home for the Holidays: How to Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"31327142985_4133e9eb9b_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Winter break is finally upon us, and for many students, that means it\u2019s time to get out of Winona and go see family. For some, this is a full month\u00a0while just a short visit for others. Being able to spend holidays with family is one of the benefits of school scheduling, but it\u2019s not perfect. Some students, myself included, are stuck away from our families over the holidays, either for work or some other commitment. So\u00a0how do we manage?<\/p>\n

For some context, I grew up here in Minnesota, but now I\u2019m the only one in my family left here. My sister lives in Montana, parents in Oregon, and the rest of my relatives live in southern Missouri. I only get to see my family at most 3 times a year, which can be a little bit difficult. But then again, it\u2019s not all bad.<\/p>\n

For those of you stuck in town for the winter, find something entertaining to keep you occupied. Something OTHER than work or school. Maybe you\u2019ll find some shows to catch up on, or start writing that short story you were always planning on getting to. Whatever it is, it\u2019s important to keep busy and find some things to do while you\u2019re away.<\/p>\n

Even though you\u2019re away, however, doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t talk to your family. Get into the habit of calling your family every so often, maybe once a week or so. Even small conversations can help make the season feel a less awkward and empty. I, for one, always Skype my family on Christmas Eve if I don\u2019t get the chance to make it to the coast. Not only does it make the holiday feel a little more normal, but it also ensures\u00a0I won\u2019t get an angry call from my mother the next day.<\/p>\n

\"24702037831_81196d4471_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are a few other ways to survive the isolation. For one, find some friends who are in the same boat as you. Instead of heading home for Christmas, hold a makeshift Friendsmas instead. Together you can cook a nice dinner, build a snowman, put up some decorations, and maybe play some Christmas music (or not, because we all get sick of it eventually). You can even go ahead and exchange gifts to make it a bit more official. Just because your real family is miles away doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have some sort of family around you. But, of course, Christmas isn\u2019t the only holiday in the winter\u00a0season, so it might be fun to plan some kind of Christmas-Hannukah-Kwanzaa fusion day. Whatever it is, have fun with it and surround yourself with friends!<\/p>\n

Last, but definitely not least, don\u2019t let the time away get you down. Everyone will likely go through a period of their life when they don\u2019t see their family often, even on the big holidays, so it\u2019s not an entirely unique experience. The best thing one can do is find ways to spend your time to make the break feel worth it. And of course, you can\u2019t get sick of your family if you\u2019re not with them. So just kick back, relax, and enjoy your break alone. You deserve it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter break is finally upon us, and for many students, that means it\u2019s time to get out of Winona and go see family. For some, this is a full month\u00a0while just a short visit for others. Being able to spend holidays with family is one of the benefits of school scheduling, but it\u2019s not perfect. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wellness-blog","category-winona"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQJv-MY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3036"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3041,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036\/revisions\/3041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}