Counting your blessings can be a good attitude for Christmas

The Christmas season can be a fantastic time of year or a difficult one, depending on your circumstances, and quite honestly it is sometimes difficult to keep a perspective on things.
Hospital Radio will be visiting the wards over the holiday period and we already know how important this can be, especially if you are a patient who does not get any visitors. Yes, hospitals where you are surrounded by people can be a lonely place as well.
If you are lucky enough to be at home, with family and friends that is definitely a bonus, but sometimes all that can be hiding other issues. Maybe you are tossing and turning at night worrying about how much you have spent or that you have got the wrong gifts.
Well maybe giving yourself a little present is the way forward, it does not have to be big or expensive, it can be the simplest of things, it can cost you nothing at all.
I think the saying is, ‘be kind to yourself.’ I just tend to conjure some happy memory that will make me smile, or find something to look forward to in the future, neither will cost you a penny.
I was talking to a colleague the other day who suggested we help someone out who had moved away and was missing his regular routine. We discussed how we might be able to help him and within no time at all, we had worked out a way to provide some bits and pieces for literally no cost. All that was required was a little chat about the problem and we had a solution, ‘a problem shared’ and all that.
Generally I just think it was being kind, in this case to another, but if just talking something over can relieve a lot of stresses, why not give it a try?
Talking about kindness, I would like to mention the Palace Avenue Methodist Church, who approached us when we were at Santa’s Grotto in Paignton, with bundles of gifts for the children at the hospital and asked us to arrange their distribution.
They were not asked to do this. They just thought, who might need a bit of cheer at this time of year? And acted upon this. Clearly, we cannot help everyone, but just to try is a step in the right direction. For me, I sleep well when I just count my blessings. From everyone at Torbay Hospital Radio have a great holiday season and remember kindness is a gift that everyone can afford.