Holiday Stress Resources to Calm and Inspire

To Read

The holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. When I was working in school-based mental health, and later when I worked in an inpatient mental health unit, the holidays were when we dealt with the most people in crisis. NAMI has always been a great resource for me. They helped me when my mom was struggling and later when I was dealing with major depression and suicidal thoughts. NAMI California has a great article on dealing with holiday stress.

Since things can get pretty heavy during the holidays, I find lighthearted reading to be important. This is not a conventional pick, but I ended up loving this book about American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. Even if you don't think you would like a book about a physicist, I encourage you to at least consider Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! This person is like no one else I've ever read about. He was a genius who developed the atomic bomb during World War II, yes, but he also approached his life with rampant curiosity and joy. Seriously entertaining.

If you're looking for something else, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is one of my favorite books. It's an easy read, but that doesn't mean it's not powerful. This book will lift your spirits while making you question everything you know. The paperback and Kindle version are only $5.77 right now on Amazon.

And if you're STILL not satisfied, I have a new blog post up over at The Mental Health Update website. It's a bit of a downer topic, though, which is why I'm mentioning it last...

To Watch / Learn

Adam Grant is a legend when it comes to prolific writing and teaching. He's a teacher at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Business, but he's much more than that. He's a deep, deep thinker who has influenced me a lot.

It's so easy to get wrapped into the status game during the holidays. Friends and family put so much pressure on each other. In this two-minute video, Adam talks to my favorite podcast host and newsletter writer, Shane Parrish of Farnam Street, about how to separate your beliefs from your identity.

To Use

I'm very selective when it comes to apps. I rarely add new apps to my phone routine. The ones that stick around benefit me in some way. Deepstash is one of those apps. It's kind of hard to explain, but just know this: if you are a curious person who likes to find and save interesting ideas, you're going to LOVE this. You can even use it in your browser and save ideas to the app from there. I've already stashed a bunch of ideas and followed interesting people I never would have found otherwise.