Hey there, Jen here, and this is a happy bit. I say this is a happy bit, but really this is a dose of

reality. I want to let you know that I have been a bit depressed lately. I know, right? I'm the host of

the Vibor Happy Women podcast, and I've been facing a bit of depression. Now, it's not terrible,

clinical depression, but it's definitely a lower mood.

And I notice often I will feel almost physical pain in my heart area, like there's a weight there.

How do we deal with this when it happens in our life? I'm going to get to that in a moment.

But first I want to explain why I think it's happening. I spent the past six months helping my boys, the oldest Azale and the second oldest

Ephraim, helping them get the help they needed to get out of the crowd they were in. And so they were

both sent to a therapeutic wilderness program called Anasazi, which I mentioned last week in the happy bit,

or a couple of weeks back in the happy bit. And now they're doing well. They're doing quite well.

My oldest is enrolled in college. He went a year early. He went somewhere out west where it's sunny,

and he's doing well. My second oldest is in class, and he's attending and he's succeeding.

In fact, the head of the math department just emailed me.

And I often would get, you know, negative emails about him because he wasn't attending class a lot last spring.

But this email said, Mr. and Mrs. Ritey, I regret to inform you that your son is in the wrong math class. He needs to be in a higher

level. He needs to be in advanced algebra. Woohoo. I'm excited because, you know, good news. I need good

news. I love it. So apparently my son scored really high on this practice ACT exam. And it makes me giggle because

he is so good at math and he hasn't applied himself at all. He missed so many classes last spring.

And then he shows up first day of math class and scores out of the park on a math practice ACT exam. So anyway, super happy. It just

made my day. But I have been struggling with my mood. And I think it's because I spent six months

being the rock for our family, holding everyone together, insulating the younger four,

kind of against everything that was happening with their older siblings.

...