Mental Health Support

Why not do just what you say you really want to do this year: "skip them and have dinner with my immediate family."

You say that "would just look worse." But at some point we have to live our real lives, not live for the way things "look" to others.

The fact is, nobody outside your immediate family cares that much what you do, and you really have to ask yourself why you make yourself do things you don't want to do because you think other people in your family will judge you. There is absolutely no hope of finding a stable path in life until you give up worrying about what outsiders may or may not think of you.