7 Ways To Celebrate Father’s Day When You Have Daddy Issues

You don’t have to spend this Sunday crying alone in your bedroom. You can have a nice weekend, even if you’re not going to be spending any time with your parents.

If you’re not one of the lucky ones who has a good relationship with their father, then here are a few different ways you can celebrate Father’s Day:

1. Buy yourself a drink. Instead of celebrating your father, celebrate yourself. Celebrate everything you have accomplished without him. Celebrate how strong you’ve become, how independent, how brave. Celebrate all of the milestones you have reached, all the mountains you have conquered.

2. Spend time with men in your world who treat you right. Remind yourself not every guy is a complete piece of shit. Send a text to the uncles and cousins and friends who were there for you when you needed them. Let them know they’re appreciated. Let them know you’re thankful they were around while you were growing up to teach you the way real, emotionally mature men are supposed to behave.

3. Don’t give yourself too much time to bathe in your own misery, guilt, anger, and sorrow. Get your emotions down on paper. Turn your frustrations into something constructive, something creative. Write a letter you’ll never send. Splash paint across a canvas. Sketch out an old photograph. Type out a poem you’ll post on social media tomorrow. Stop holding all of your emotions inside and release them in the most productive way you know how.

4. Spend time outside, in nature, and stay far, far away from social media. Don’t torture yourself by scrolling through Instagram where you’ll see throwback photos of happy families. Don’t look through Facebook where you’ll read hundreds of posts about the best dads in the world. Put your phone down for the time being. Wait until tomorrow to search through social media again. You can survive twenty-four hours without it.

5. Work. Catch up on the projects you were supposed to finish on Friday or start new projects that were originally going to wait until Monday. While everyone else is busy grabbing dinner at Red Lobster and Olive Garden, use your alone time to do something that will make the rest of the work week easier on you. There’s no harm in working a little extra.

6. Spend time with strong, female role models. If your mother was the only one who raised you, she deserves two holidays. You can celebrate Sunday with her. If you have other friends who are going through a similar situation with their absent, deadbeat, nonexistent fathers then you should give them a call too. Get a group of badass girls together. Don’t let the men in your life bring you down.

7. When all else fails, distract yourself. Watch your favorite show. Listen to your favorite music. Eat your favorite foods. Read your favorite authors. Make plans with your favorite humans.

This time of the year might be difficult for you, but you have to remember it’s just another day. There’s nothing inherently special about it. It might suck, but you’ll get through it, just like you get through everything else.