It’s the first week of a New Year, when we are accustomed to set good intentions and think of the New Year as a new start.
However, this year is far from normal, amid the on-going pandemic and rising coronavirus numbers.
Ventura County Marriage and Family Therapist Elizabeth Irias told KCLU that this New Year is an unprecedented challenge.
"First and foremost we need to acknowledge that this year is different. Many of us were rolling into New Year's Eve on 2020 going, 'yes, we've done it,' and then about three days in to 2021 - recognising that 'oh no, we are still in this.'"
Irias says we are experiencing grief - whether large or small - and she says that we have to be able to recognize that feeling.
"One thing that can be most helpful is labelling what what we are feeling and call it what it is, which is grief. I think of grief as the gap between what we hoped or what we expected and what actually is."
