Christmas behind us, Hope ahead of us

Hope!
DO you have hope?
Is your hope based in faith?

I have hope, but sometimes I don't look towards it. Sometimes I allow the negativity at work and bad attitudes seep into my very skin. Sadly, sometimes I even take the bad mood home and I hate myself when I do that.

David and I both have stressful jobs and the one thing we try to never do is take out our work anger on each other. We do our best to talk it out (especially if we want/need a sounding board). But sometimes, we are just angry/sad/mad/frustrated and fume for a while before letting go of the horrible mood.

 It is not good for the employee to work in a situation where they are constantly afraid of being fired or threatened with job loss. Whoever decided that was a great motivator has not lived through it with depression and anxiety hand in hand. Please do not do this to your employees!!

There are so many expectations of what Christmas should be (we are saturated with them from TV, Movies, radio and all around us). What the healthy thing to do is decide way ahead of time what you can comfortably afford and do that.

I really do hope you didn't let work guilt you into buying presents you didn't want to or attend events that you felt super uncomfortable with. The holidays are best celebrated when we are comfortable with what is going on and not forced to do or be with anyone we do not feel comfortable with.

All we wanted for Christmas was to get away from home for a few hours and attend Midnight Christmas Eve mass with the family. It was an added bonus when the chow chow, candles and crochet items were appreciated by those we shared them with. Mostly we just hung out, watched TV, ate a couple of meals and hugged our extended family in Memphis.

I hope you have a great rest of the week and a Happy New Year. Be sure and check on those you don't hear from often just to make sure they are okay.

If you need to get them help or for yourself, the number is 1-800-799-7233.