The thing is, Christmas isn’t always the most wonderful time of the year.

Despite what festive rom-coms and social media might lead us to believe, all that holiday cheer can actually exacerbate feelings of loneliness for many, including those who have lost a loved one, who don’t have anyone to enjoy the festivities with or who feel too anxious or overwhelmed to join in on the revelry.

And that’s OK. After all, we are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic with 34% of 25-34 year olds saying they are lonely ‘often or very often’. However, particularly at this time of year, loneliness can bring about complicated feelings and emotions, and even shame, thanks to the constant (commercialised) barrage of messaging telling us that December should be 30 days of pure champagne-fuelled joy. A 2017 survey found that a third of people (36%) are too embarrassed to admit that they are lonely at Christmas and over a quarter (26%) would not feel able to ask for help at Christmas if they were struggling emotionally.

Lonely at Christmas? Miley Cyrus just summed up why we need sad carols too