#555 – When the Holidays Hurt
The Sister Circle Podcast
Chrystal Evans Hurst
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The joy of the holidays can often overshadow any moments of grief and sadness we experience.
In this episode of the podcast, I share my practical guidance for allowing grief, loss, and sadness to flow, specifically during the most wonderful time of the year. My own journey of loss has taught me that even in sorrow, there is still room for joy, but we must first give ourselves permission to exhale.
Here’s your invitation to make room for healing this holiday season.
Highlights from Today’s Episode
- Remembering what was
- Recognizing your emotional capacity
- Releasing the pressure to pretend
Related Resources
- Listen to this encouraging episode about The Gift of Grief.
- Feeling uneasy about holiday obligations? Listen to this episode for Tips for Coping with Holiday Stress.
- Connect with a Bible study through Bible Study Fellowship
- Prepare your heart and mind for the year ahead with the Write It Down guide and the free Dream Builders Workshop.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there. Thanks for listening to the Sister Circle podcast. My name is Crystal Evanshurst, |
| 0:09.6 | and I'm your host. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast that's designed to help you |
| 0:15.8 | live your life well and to make it a life you love. Listen, you get to choose. |
| 0:25.2 | Hey y'all, ready or not, the holidays are coming. And when you think about the holidays, |
| 0:33.4 | what's the first emotion that rises up for you? Is it joy or is it something heavier? |
| 0:38.5 | What's something that the holidays may be used to bring to you that you feel like you've lost? |
| 0:42.8 | And if you have feelings about that, if you have an ache about that, where does the ache tend to show up most for you? |
| 0:48.8 | Is it your schedule? Is it your traditions? Is it your relationships? Or is it just a deep ache in your soul? |
| 0:55.8 | The holidays have a way of magnifying whatever is already going on in our hearts. And I want you to be ready for the holidays, |
| 1:01.2 | the good, the bad, and the ugly. And is it okay to say holidays and the ugly in the same sentence? |
| 1:05.6 | We keep it real around here. And so we want to talk about what you can do when the holidays |
| 1:10.2 | actually hurt. All right. So do when the holidays actually hurt. |
| 1:12.7 | All right. So listen, the holidays can have a way for many of us to be amazingly beautiful |
| 1:17.8 | experiences to create amazingly wonderful memories. But for many of us, the holidays have a way |
| 1:23.0 | of really amplifying the feeling of ache that we have. And it reminds us of what's going on in our hearts. |
| 1:30.5 | Like no other season really can. If your life is joyful, then the holidays can make it brighter. |
| 1:35.8 | But if life is heavy, if you are dealing with pain or sorrow or loss, the holidays can really |
| 1:41.9 | press in on our bruises. My mom passed away in December of 2019. |
| 1:48.0 | I remember looking at her and saying, you can't go before Christmas. And she looked at me and she |
| 1:52.5 | rolled her eyes like, oh my God, I just want to go to heaven and y'all won't let me go. But she did |
| 1:56.4 | stay until December the 30th. And for that, I'm so grateful. I walked into her bedroom on Christmas |
| 2:01.7 | morning with an ornament. She was always such a great gift giver, but the best gifts that she enjoyed |
... |
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