Less Stress At Thanksgiving Dinner

Holidays can be a stressful time for many reasons. There’s the meal planning, coordinating with family members, and the traveling. This year though, a lot of those typical stressors have been replaced with other concerns because of the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is strongly urging Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving only with their household, and avoid any unnecessary travel as cases of COVID-19  surge to record highs across the country. But there’s still quite a bit to talk about when it comes to our mental health.

Guests:

Jacob Z. Goldsmith, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist, and Coordinator of Emerging Adulthood Program, The Family Institute at Northwestern University 

Aderonke Pederson, MD. Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine

We sent our Text The 21st group: “This year’s Thanksgiving is what no one would have imagined or wanted. But despite the circumstances, what are you thankful for this year?” We heard some voicemails throughout the show. Here are other responses from our listeners:

Justin in Rockford: I hate to sound down, but it’s just been a most wretched year. So much confusion, so much discord and deceit sewn by our nation’s leaders, all in a year, ironically, yielding anything but 20/20 vision. I guess the brightest spot for me, amidst all the political destruction, were the apolitical doctors, like Dr Fauci, and all of the health care workers in the hospitals who never wavered to show up to their post and treat those among us who needed them, sometimes often treating those who ended up being hospitalized because they refused to heed the health community’s grave warnings. These hospital workers - the nurses, phlebotomists, lab techs, doctors, and even hospital maintenance and cleaning crews, EMT’s - they are the silent heroes that have literally saved so many lives this year because of their altruistic integrity and dedication. I am grateful to know that there are still such people out there, making a difference.

Andrea in Champaign: I am thankful for family zoom get togethers!

Stephen in Urbana: It appears America is poised to constructively deal with its history of racial and economic injustice towards Native and African Americans. If we witness meaningful progress in this in the coming year we will have something to be truly thankful for.

Prepared for web by Zainab Qureshi

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