When They Won't Be Home for Christmas (Holiday Grief)Sample

Day 4: The Grief That Shows Up in Your Body, Not Just Your Heart

Here's what they don't prepare you for: grief lives in your body. Your chest feels tight. Your stomach hurts. You're exhausted but can't sleep. You forget words mid-sentence. You get sick more often. Your body literally aches with missing them.

During the holidays, this sometimes gets worse. You're not just emotionally exhausted—you're physically depleted. Making cookies feels like climbing Mount Everest. Wrapping presents requires energy you don't have. Sitting through a church service feels impossible.

And then you feel guilty. Everyone else seems to handle the holidays fine. What's wrong with you that you can't even manage normal activities?

Nothing is wrong with you. Grief is physiological, not just emotional. Your body is processing trauma. Your nervous system is overwhelmed. Your brain is reorganizing itself around the reality of loss. This takes actual, physical energy.

The Psalmist knew this. "My bones are in agony. I am worn out." This isn't metaphor—this is body-level grief.

Jesus invites the weary and burdened to rest. Not the people who have their act together. Not the strong ones. The exhausted ones. The ones who can barely carry what they're carrying.

You need rest. Real, physical rest. Not rest you have to earn by first finishing the holiday obligations. Rest as a form of survival. Rest as resistance against a culture that demands productivity even from grieving people.

Talk to God

Jesus, I'm so tired. Bone-tired. Soul-tired. Body-tired. I don't have energy for the holidays, for people's expectations, for any of it. Help me believe that rest isn't laziness—that my body needs time to heal from this. Give me permission to do less. Much less. Almost nothing if that's what I need. Let me be weary in Your presence without having to fix it. Amen.

Try This Today

Cancel one thing. Just one. Something you committed to but don't actually have energy for. Then use that time to physically rest—nap, lie down, sit in a quiet room. Your body is grieving. Let it.