Dec 14, 2022
It’s that time of year again when we welcome the ho-ho holiday spirit back into our lives. We run ragged trying to fill stockings with glee yet leave ours full of coal or worse, empty. This week the guys tackle the most wonderful time of the year and offer some tips for whom the jingle bells toll.
Welcome to episode one hundred eighty three of Above Ground Podcast. The holidays leave many of us full of anxiety and dread. Our eardrums are taken over earlier every year by the sounds of Christmas. We have totally forgotten the Thanksgiving holiday and go right from Halloween into what seems an endless sleigh ride into the exhaustion and debt blizzard. If it’s not the wish lists that drive you to more eggnog than normal, it’s the current price of everything. From gifts to our mental health the costs are steep and you will pay for it all year long. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving you stress.
If you find yourself feeling lonely, stressed and exhausted there are things we can do to fight off Rudolph's angry antlers. Take a time out for your self. If you find overwhelm under the tree, take a walk. Remind your mind that this too will pass with the snow and cold. Cherish the moments of peace when the kiddos drift off to dream of sugar plums dancing on your head.
According to Boston University, ten million people are effected by SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder). SAD is a type of depression that starts in the fall and amplifies in the winter. These symptoms tend to resolve in spring and are resolved fully by summer. One way to fight the winter blues is to serve the community. Go out and serve food at a shelter, raise funds for an underserved population or cause. There are no shortages of toy drives, 501(C)3s or ways to help in Nippertown or anywhere you hang your stockings with care.
Try not to be a Scrooge and isolate during this winter wonderland. Get out and skate, sled or snowshoe to your nearest favorite hot cocoa spot. Don't let the season be the reason your alone. Close your laptop, log off your Instaface and go people watch. Feel the stress melt away while you watch everyone else roast their chestnuts in line paying for things they can't afford, for family they hate the other three hundred and sixty four days of the year. Start your own traditions, adopt an elf like Willard and spread Xmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear.
With the sincerest gratitude we are so thankful for all of you this year. Above Ground Podcast will turn four in 2023 and we are as giddy as a child on Christmas morning hoping for a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and not a pink bunny costume. And if you are hoping for that pink bunny costume that's cool too. No judgement here. If you're searching for that perfect gift for that certain someone stuck back in an era before men talked about their emotions or were man enough to admit they had any, check out TPP's new DIY manual, Never Under Estimate the Power of You. You can buy the guys a coffee or send Nippertown a few bucks to help spread the news of the 518 music and art scene. They also help AGP by putting up our content. Send the gift of music to someone who needs to overcome the despair and mayhem of the ghosts of Christmas past. Make your yuletide bright and take us with you in your earbuds for that last minute Christmas Eve shopping binge and to all get well, be safe, stay Above.