Hearing Loss Holiday Survival

While Thanksgiving has come and gone (SO fast !), we can still look forward to Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the beginning of 2024 as opportunities to test our ability to withstand the challenges of hearing loss.

Surviving and thriving with hearing loss even in quiet, subdued times can be a challenge, but add the hoopla of the holidays, and there’s a layer of complexity that requires some serious bolstering of our survival skills.  And maybe even a strategy or two, to make it a bit easier.

There are the family dinners or brunches, the special Christmas performances at various theaters around town, holiday parties, or even just the pressure we put upon ourselves to be perfect in these festive times.

But I have a suggestion or two.  First of all, none of us will be perfect, so we can just ditch that absurd standard right now.  Second, these times present a great opportunity to take charge of our disability.  This is the time to both be selective about what events we choose to attend, and it is a time to enlist the help of our friends and families to make the events just a bit more relaxed and low pressure — to advocate not only for us, but for all of the other 48,000,000 people in the US with significant hearing loss.

Choose where you sit at the table.  Tell your seatmates – even at The Shedd or The Hult – that you have hearing loss and will be using your iPhone to make adjustments to your hearing devices.  Share your hearing loss concerns with the people who know you and care about you.  It is highly likely that they themselves have hearing loss, or certainly know someone in their world who does as well.  You don’t have to whine or whimper.  Wear your hearing loss proudly, use it as an educational tool,  and I think you’ll be surprised at the support you receive.  And if all of the excitement and activity of the season is just too much, don’t hesitate to stay home, take a hot bath, read a good book, and gather up the energy to approach 2024 with a renewed commitment to embrace your hearing loss, take care of it as best you can, and encourage your friends and family to take care of THEIR hearing, just as you have.

Happy Holidays!!!