A note to listeners, suicide is mentioned in this episode, not in any kind of graphic or descriptive way.

Hi, I'm sitting here at a table, computer open, cup of coffee in front of me, and if this goes well, you will be better able to handle your mental health heading into

2026.

So here's what happened to me.

The holidays came around, and I have been working, like, really hard for a while now,

nights, weekends, this show, plus sleeping with celebrities on Maximum Fun, which I host,

look that up, and in this family, a show I produce, looked that up too. Then I've been teaching,

which I love, and it's a ton of work, been putting in some time on some other mystery projects.

I'm not burned out, but I could see it from here.

And this is kind of a dead zone time of year. You can't book people as guests around the

holidays anyway. Nobody's around. Nobody answers their email. Thus, it was a perfect time to take

some time off. And we have.

We re-ran a Mike Doty episode last week here on Depression Mode.

It's awesome.

Listen to that episode.

So I intended to take more downtime, chill time, nothing time, read a book time, read the book that my mother-in-law got me for Christmas time. Maybe a jigsaw puzzle. But I kept thinking, it's the new year. You know, welcome to 2026.

2026? Damn. And there actually kind of is something that I really desperately want to talk with you about, that I'm

driven to talk with you about. Yes, you. Now you're looking around as John talking to me.

I am. You there. You specifically, personally. I'm here to talk about that thing. It's

Depression Mode. I'm John Moe. I am here to talk about that thing. It's depression mode. I'm John Mo. I am glad

you're here. I'll begin by offering a very unsexy thought.

This thought that won't initially hit you as a revelation.

...