When the Holidays Feel Complicated in Healthcare

A Christmas Shift, a Quiet Hallway, and a Full Heart

Christmas Day at 6:45 a.m., a nurse I used to work with texted me from the parking lot of her hospital. Snow on the windshield. Coffee in hand. A knot in her stomach. Her family was already gathering at home, but she was heading in for a 12-hour shift. She wrote, “I love my work. I really do. But today feels heavier than usual.”

That one message captures the reality for many healthcare professionals during the holidays. You show up for others while managing your own complicated mix of duty, grief, pride, exhaustion, and love. This blog is for you.

When the Holidays Feel Complicated, Not Joyful

As a consultant who has spent decades alongside healthcare providers, I will say this plainly: if the holidays feel hard this year, nothing is wrong with you.

You may be:

• Working while others are resting

• Supporting patients who are lonely, sick, or in crisis

• Missing someone you lost

• Carrying burnout into what is supposed to be a joyful season

• Feeling pressure to be grateful when you are simply tired

Healthcare culture does not always leave room for that truth. But we have to make room for it anyway.

Practical Guidance for Getting Through Holiday Shifts

This is not about “making the most of it” or forcing gratitude. This is about staying grounded and intact.

1. Lower the bar on perfection

Holidays are not about delivering peak performance. It is about safe, compassionate care and getting yourself home in one piece. Good enough is enough.

2. Create micro-moments of meaning

One kind interaction. One deep breath before entering a room. One song in the car that reminds you who you are outside of work. Small anchors matter.

3. Give yourself permission to feel two things at once

You can be proud of your role and resent the timing. You can love your patients and miss your people. Both can coexist without canceling each other out.

4. Set boundaries around emotional labor

You do not need to carry everyone’s holiday sadness. Empathy does not require self-sacrifice. Protect your energy where you can.

5. Plan your “after”

Have something waiting for you post-shift, even if it is simple. A warm meal. A call with someone safe. Quiet. Rest is not a reward. It is a requirement.

Compassion for Those Carrying Personal Loss

For providers who have lost someone, especially during the holidays, the clinical environment can amplify grief. Memories surface. Emotions catch you off guard.

Here is the truth many do not say out loud: grief does not pause because you are a professional.

If today brings tears, heaviness, or distraction, it does not mean you are weak. It means you are human. Acknowledge it internally. Name it to someone you trust if you can. And do not judge yourself for surviving the day instead of celebrating it.

A Note to Healthcare Leaders

If you supervise staff working during the holidays, this is your moment to lead differently.

• Check in without an agenda

• Normalize complicated emotions

• Avoid forced cheer

• Acknowledge the sacrifice explicitly

• Model boundaries yourself

Retention, morale, and trust are built in moments like this, not in policy manuals.

How Vantage Can Help

At Vantage Clinical Consulting, we work with healthcare organizations to support the people who carry the work, not just the work itself.

We help organizations:

• Build recovery-friendly and emotionally intelligent workplaces

• Train leaders on trauma-informed supervision and burnout prevention

• Integrate compassion, boundaries, and sustainability into culture

• Support teams navigating grief, secondary trauma, and high-demand seasons

• Explore responsible use of digital health and AI tools to reduce administrative burden and protect clinician time

If the holidays highlighted gaps in support, culture, or leadership capacity, that is not a failure. It is data. And it is something we can address together.

From one healthcare professional to another: thank you for showing up, especially when it is hard.

#HealthcareHeroes #HolidayOnTheFrontlines #CompassionateLeadership #ClinicianWellbeing #HealthcareCulture #VantageClinicalConsulting #LetTheHealingBegin