Sometimes you got a present when you want a friend, all you got to do is present, present.

Welcome to press and I'm Chanel Alexander and this is the podcast where we talk through all your problems and give you our best advice today.

I have my end of the year solo episode here just closing out the gear and we're going to like do a little catch up, but then also I'm going to tell you what we have in store for the new year because we have some exciting things going on.

Podcast will still be here in full form, but we're going to be doing some new interesting things. So first of all, we'll just do like a little catch up.

It feels like it's been kind of a brutal start to December. I don't know about you guys, but it always feels like December can be kind of like cursed time. Why is that?

Why is it that December always feels like kind of tumultuous? Like it's the happiest time of year, but also like a lot of shit goes wrong. I feel like people are getting sick left and right. I mean, people are going down.

We had a bit of a little sickness episode in my house, boyfriend, Viterino was down with something. I had a little bit of something turned out.

Mine was just my period. It was my period every every month. It's seriously. It's like, am I dying? Do I have COVID? Am I sick? Oh, wait, no, just starting my period. So that happened this week.

But yeah, it just feels like everyone's sick. Lots of like kind of crazy things happening in my personal life. I don't know if I've talked about it too much on air, but my mom and I are not super close anymore.

Just we have some really different viewpoints on a lot of things. And we've just, she's run into some health issues. And so we've been kind of just dealing with that and back in touch talking about that. And, you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking about how hard it is to care for people when your relationship feels strained.

And what I've realized is you kind of snap back into just being there for people. And I'm learning a lot about what matters and what should matter. And obviously, like,

that doesn't make all the issues go away, but certainly it does kind of put into perspective, like, okay, I'm snapping back into being a daughter who's very much like in your life and cares.

And not that I never, I never stopped caring, obviously, but just like, you know, you're gonna put things aside to just be there for people.

And so that's been something that I've been going through in my personal life that I haven't shared much about online. But, you know, y'all are my podcast fam. I feel like, you know, I want to share here.

And just because we get to chat and kind of do a catch up, I think, you know, it was a good time to just share that.

Also, I feel like a lot of my friends had parents pass away in the month of December over the last year or so.

So I'm just trying to like be there and be a good support system in my life, but also be a good support system for myself. And reaching out to people in my life who I trust to be there for me and asking for help is not something I'm good at.

Clearly have a podcast where I try to help other people.

And so it is challenging. I also have been taking a break from therapy, but I'm going to be doing a follow up appointment in the new year just to kind of touch base.

But, you know, I think I'm trying to kind of like navigate this without therapy, not that I think therapy is a bad thing, but I had taken a break just because I felt like I was at a point where

I could take a moment and try to see and calibrate on my own for a bit. And I'm obsessed with my therapist and I will continue to see her on occasion and obviously anytime I feel like I need to go back full force I will. And who knows that might be soon.

But I just, if anyone else is like feeling that this month has been tumultuous or not looking forward to seeing family or feeling like you're kind of walking into the gauntlet with the holidays.

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