I think we can all agree this holiday season feels very different. I stumbled on old blogs from around this time of year, some from last year and some from three years ago, and they all have a similar tone. An accelerated momentum heading into the holidays. I compared our November energy to "crazed squirrels getting ready for the cold season. Filling, layering, piling, decorating, inviting, eating…spiking!!!" This year feels more hesitant with less haste. More careful and les

The last blog was all about anxiety, which is essentially a prolonged dot-dot-dot anticipating an outcome. It can grow and become disorienting to the point of delusion and irrational thinking. There's a point where this trapped feeling does need to be released. Sometimes the release is a fizzle. Once you work through your concerns, you realize it was no big deal; the suspenseful music built up to a silly toy puppet springing out of the box. Other times, we actually do have to

We all have a level-headed angel on one shoulder and a mischievous devil on the other shoulder, and then there's the anxious troll just pacing from one shoulder to the other. It sometimes hides, plays dead, but when we get that hot feeling behind our ears and the hair on the back of our neck stands up, it's waking up. That calm decision-maker is replaced with panic, finger-pointing, and impulsiveness. Forget fight or flight, we don't have time - just spiral. Explode and implo