5 Signs You Shouldn’t Go Home for Thanksgiving

But if you choose to go, here’s some advice from Dr. Nicole LePera, The Holistic Psych, on how to stay safe and healthy.

Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash

I’ve built my own Thanksgiving tradition.

I wake up around 6 or 7 AM and dunk myself in a frozen river until I can’t feel my fingers or toes. It may sound like torture but it’s far less painful than going home.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think many people get caught up in the romance of going home for the holidays — the familiar smells, mom’s apple pie, sitting around in pajamas, clutching coffee cups with both hands.

But when they arrive, they’re smacked in the face by the reality of it — messy family dynamics, unhealed emotional wounds, unconscious behavior patterns, and a shattered nervous system.

Let me tell you a super-secret, adulting life-hack: you don’t have to go home for Thanksgiving.

Here are a few signs that you shouldn’t.

1. When You Think About Going Home, You Resent It

Don’t think, just answer: do you want to go home for Thanksgiving?