Grief, Trauma & Your Mama™ · A holiday grief guide
The Hardest Season
A write-in holiday grief guideFor a lot of grieving people, the holidays arrive in the body in October. The light changes. The stores change. Your body notices before your calendar does.
Grief is what happens when an attachment breaks. The holidays are built around the people we belong to, so this season carries a second loss: the holidays you used to have, with them in it. This is a short guide to help you through it in a way you can live with.
Written by Angela Schellenberg, licensed grief and trauma therapist.
Delivered to your inbox in a minute or two. Questions? Ask Angela.
The holidays are built around the people we belong to. When one of them is gone, the whole season points at the empty place.
why the season hits so hard
Your body was organized around this person
Your nervous system learned where they would be, how they sounded, what they would do next. Every December it expected them at the table. That expectation still runs, and it meets the empty chair over and over.
So you lose them again in a new way. You lose the season you shared, the jobs that were theirs, the version of the holidays that had them in it. Grief researchers call this a secondary loss. Most people just call it the hardest season.
You get to do the holidays in a way you can live through this year. That is enough.
what’s inside
Twenty-nine pages, most of them for writing in
Short pages to read, and room to write. Start anywhere. Keep it somewhere you can find it in December.
- Attachment and the nervous system, explained simply
- Pages for sudden loss, when there was no goodbye
- Pages for mother loss, including a mother who is alive but you cannot go home to
- A two-door plan, so every gathering has a way in and a way out
- A map of the season, from October to the new year
- Lines for the table, for the questions you dread
- Rituals for saying their name
- A body map, a recipe card and a letter
- A grounding kit and a memory jar
- Writing prompts and a cut-out fridge note
- Books and support resources with QR codes
- A page for therapists who use it with clients
get the guide
Yours in a minute or two
The Hardest Season
29-page write-in PDF
- The full 29-page guide
- Print at home or write in it on a tablet
- Delivered to your inbox right after checkout
questions
Before you buy
How do I get it?
Instantly, by email. As soon as checkout finishes, a download link arrives in your inbox. Save the file once it opens.
Is it a printed book?
It is a PDF. Print it at home, or open it on a tablet and write in it with a stylus. It is US letter size.
Can I get a refund?
Because it is an instant digital download, all sales are final. If the file will not open or something goes wrong, email me and I will send it to you personally.
Want more support this season?
Some years a guide is enough. Some years you want a person with you. There is a free fifteen-minute call, if you want it.
Book a free 15-minute call