Ep. 212 — How to Cope with the Midlife Holiday Ache of Missing Loved Ones: Simple Coping Skills for Stress, Anxiety, and Longing

Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

Have you ever looked at the holiday table and felt the quiet ache of someone missing?
You’re not alone — and it doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means your love is remembering.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
1. The science of why your brain links memory, belonging, and emotion so powerfully this time of year.
2. Why noticing your “missing” is the key to transforming midlife anxiety into calm and clarity.
3. Three simple coping skills to ground yourself, reconnect, and find meaning when the holidays feel too quiet.
Take ten minutes to turn your holiday stress into calm, gratitude, and grounded connection — you’re worth it.

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About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.
Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.