Shining A Light On The Darker Side Of The Holidays

The holidays are almost here and it’s—if songs are to be believed—the most wonderful time of the year. But for many, the holidays are hard. This is a time of year that can wreak havoc on our relationships—the to-do lists and demands on our time make us crazy and the people we love most often pay for it. It’s the time of year that, for those feeling loneliness or struggling with loss, can feel even harder. Images of perfection—all the family, all the love and joy, the perfectly decorated home—bombard us from everywhere we look and, in particular, on social media.

Stacy Bass, while blessed in many ways, can relate to the less cheery side of the holidays—this year will be the first without her mother, whom she lost in January to pancreatic cancer. Though the loss is still raw, Stacy wants to share her experience of finding social media—the very place that sometimes seems to amplify what we don’t have and how we don’t measure up—to be a place of discovery and healing, and how she was able to use the platform to create a living tribute to her mom, something remarkably compassionate and beautiful that both supported and transformed her relationship with her mom. Read more.