How to Not Feel Alone on Thanksgiving

Perhaps you're an only child, and your parents have booked an Alaskan cruise for the entire month of November. Perhaps you're recently divorced, and you and your ex have decided that it's best not to reunite for dinner with the kids. Or perhaps, for logistical reasons, your far-flung family simply hasn't been able to get it together, leaving you to your own devices. How do you make it through Thanksgiving without feeling completely dejected?

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Remember, you're not the only one. Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas witness a peculiar self-selection effect: anyone who has anywhere to go is out and extremely visible, while folks who have nowhere to go tend to huddle inside their houses and apartments. So while it may seem as if everyone is enjoying Thanksgiving with friends and family, there are actually a large number of (very normal) people spending the day alone, just like you.

2. Look on the bright side. Many of the folks you see packing the kids into the family SUV, inching their way to the airport through heavy traffic and juggling their carry-on luggage with one hand while trying to keep a pumpkin pie level with the other would kill for the chance to spend Thanksgiving alone. For the vast majority of people, this is a holiday to be endured rather than actually enjoyed-so all in all you're probably better off.

3. Plan your TV viewing carefully. The worst possible thing to watch on a solitary Thanksgiving is some treacly movie on the Lifetime Network, which will likely be titled "I'll be Home for Thanksgiving," "A Thanksgiving to Remember," "The Best Thanksgiving Ever," etc. If you're a guy, there are three football games airing on Turkey Day, at 12:30, 4:15 and 8:00-you know what to do. If you're a gal, you may want to rent a non-Thanksgiving-themed DVD or turn off the set entirely and read a good book.

4. Don't feel obliged to have turkey for dinner. While some authorities insist on the therapeutic effect of going to your local diner and ordering the Thanksgiving special, this will just as likely make you feel even more lonely and self-conscious than you already do. It's better to relax at home and prepare yourself a simple meal. Something with turkey is fine, but something without turkey is also fine-after all, who's gonna know?

5. Be thankful. Not to get as treacly as a Lifetime Network Thanksgiving movie, but it helps to remember that other folks are in much worse shape than you-homeless, jobless and/or seriously ill. Sure, a little self-pity is fine, but when you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, spending the holiday alone is a minor inconvenience.

[g-maj]

on 11/26/2009 I've deemed this a "people free" day! I work several jobs, have a needy family, and generally am surrounded by people pulling at me and needing me every day of the year. This is MY holiday. Computer, television, cat, photoshop, no phone, no people, one day!!!! Life is good!

[miso-happy]

on 11/26/2009 I too am spending Thanksgiving alone this year because of broken family promises that we'd be spending it together but my parents had a change in plans and I can't do the drive there because I'll get car sick and plus no good places for Black Friday shoppers like myself. As for friends I have few to none and the ones I have are busy, I was invited to other places but face it...I can cook my own dang dinner and do it big solo-style. I'll probably rent a saga of DVD's from RedBox or go watch New Moon and search online for the best b-friday sales all while avoiding any awkward moments with family and friends I might've went through otherwise.

I'm Thankful for what I have because I know their are those with little to nothing. If it were humanly possible I would invite all of you other people that are alone to celebrate Thanksgiving with me. So cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to all you ...

[buggers]

on 11/22/2009 This is a nice article. Thanksgiving is my favorite family holiday. Unfortunately for the first time in my life I will not be spending Turkey day with any of my family because they all have other plans with their SO's families and I am divorced and alone, and in another state. I'm hoping I'll be able to maybe do some charity work that day, like maybe serving Thanksgiving dinner to homeless people, but if that doesn't work out then I think I will just be thankful for what I have by myself. Cheers!

[bradshaw3]

on 11/27/2008 I'm alone on all holidays but I've gotten used to it. My parents died when I was young, I am the only one and what relatives I do have are more strangers than family. My friends, naturally, are spending the day with their families. One may feel pretty lonely and left out, but really, left out of WHAT? I just remind myself that the only reason anyone is connected is by biology. Humans are a pack of loathsome, selfish creatures who only think about how to gratify their own senses. I remind myself people are really only animals and they are nothing but walking colonies of bacteria doing what nature programmed them to do, eat and reproduce - which is what Thanksgiving really is all about underneath because that is all a family is for, a monument to the perpetuation of ones genetic likenesses. I think long and hard enough on these things and concepts of family and belonging evaporate a

[bernee69]

on 11/27/2008 i to am also alone this holidays,recently seperated and i to dont know alot of people. i recently retired from the military so i have spent many holidays away.most not of my choice,but this one i am choosing to be, my choice and i dont have to be bothered by anyone or listen to their situations whatever they may be.i hope it turns out to being a nice day for all of us alone this thanksgivig,make the best of all we have, HAPPY THANKSGIVING