Spinning through life

It doesn’t matter what holiday you celebrate. This time of year can be stressful and potentially cause the mental health struggles you deal with regularly – and likely have under control – to flare up. Increases of anxiety and depression around the holidays are so common that a term has been coined and Elvis even wrote a song about it (well and missing someone!). According to Psychology Today, 38 percent of people surveyed said their stress level went up during the holiday season and listed their top stressors as lack of time, lack of money, commercialism, the pressures of gift-giving and family gatherings. Some known causes of the holiday blues include overeating, excessive drinking, not getting enough sleep and having unrealistic expectations. I have an extra special reason to catch this bug each year. My dad passed away on Thanksgiving and his birthday is at the beginning of the month of November on Veteran’s Day. So, each year just as everyone else is started to get me