Social Hour

Mental health awareness has definitely jumped back into the spotlight after yesterday shooting at an elementary school in Texas. It's too distressing to talk about those events right now. Not going to have a sad, depressing blog. Basically, if you're a parent, a teacher, or in law enforcement, I feel for you. And if you feel alone, depressed, or desperate, please get help. There are healthy ways out of that dark place.

I like this graphic shared by our Wood County Health Department today. I agree 100% that connecting with people boosts your mood. Why do you think we were all so down during the first part of COVID when we were all under house arrest? We need people.

We need to be social.

So tonight I took the perfect medicine for curing these depressing 24 hours where it has rained continually and the news feed has been continually tragic. Got together for dinner in Stevens Point with 9 co-workers. One of them is moving away so we needed a sendoff since he'll be gone before we return to the office next month. He'll still work with us, just really remotely now. 

So we spent nearly 3 hours just chatting and eating and laughing and not thinking about the sad news of the day. It was refreshing. And fun. And the perfect distraction.

Oh, and good for my mental health.

I highly recommend little social hours here and there. You deserve them. And you need them! 

Sometimes they even come with hugs.