Surviving Christmas in the Mother City alone

To me, nothing says ‘adulthood’ quite like packing my bags, leaving my parent’s home and heading to Cape Town for a two-month internship over the festive season.

Initially, this plan came with great excitement at the thought of meeting new people, learning new things and most importantly missing small talk over Christmas braaivleis with distant and bitter family members.

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Now, 3 days before Christmas, the liberating high of freedom has worn off and has been replaced with an anxious feeling about what Christmas morning will bring.

I consider myself quite the independent woman, but truth be told, spending Christmas alone is a daunting thought. This has made me think about how we, as society, have become so afraid about spending time alone. 

No one knows how to be alone anymore.  We have filled that time with others through small screens that we’re always connected to. Alone time has become the 5 minutes that we spend in the bathroom or the commute to and from work every day. 

When we are alone we have to face ourselves and our thoughts. So we have learned to run from ourselves, and in the process, forget the pleasures of solitude.

I choose to embrace the solitude this Christmas.

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I plan on sleeping in until my heart is content, binge-watching all the latest episodes of Shameless or exploring the beautiful City of Cape Town, and then spoil myself with an expensive dinner at a restaurant that I am yet to try in this new city.

I admit that not being with the people you love during the holidays is difficult, but probably not as difficult as knowing that you cannot spend one day with yourself. So, if you find yourself alone over Christmas, embrace the silence, do the things that you love. 

Focus on what this season is really about: love and gratitude. You can still fill yourself with the same feelings of love, friendship, and compassion that are at the core of the Christmas holiday season if you just look.

Here are 10 fun, challenging and enjoyable ideas to savor Christmas alone:

1. Decorate your room with fairy lights and watch them in the semi darkness
2. Take a road trip to a place you’ve never been before
3. Compose your very own Christmas carol
4. Give yourself the gift of silence
5. Block out all noises and distractions and do something that has been on your to-do list forever
6. Read a book or catch up on your favourite W24 posts
7. Plant a Christmas garden
8. Practice mindfulness meditation or begin a new hobby
9. Have a movie marathon of all your favourite movies
10. Cook yourself something you think the Queen would eat, and enjoy it all by yourself