We’ve entered the final stretch of 2018, and while the world continues to be a nightmare-zone, the games were pretty good.  I haven’t finalized the Game of the Year plans yet, but I imagine it’ll be something similar to what I did last year.  But that isn’t the point of this blog.  Instead, I’d like to speak a little more seriously.

The holidays are an incredibly stressful time of year for me, and I imagine it’s like that for a lot of people.  You might find yourself overwhelmed or frustrated a lot in December and believe me, I get it.  In my case, I hate gift giving.  I’m absolutely terrible at figuring out what people want, and even worse at trying to find gifts in my price range.  And that might be small potatoes compared to what other people have going on, but it still manages to stress me out.

Whatever your reasons might be, I want to just encourage people to take some time to focus on themselves.  The holidays are all about selflessness and togetherness, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of your sanity and personal wellbeing.

I bring this up because I’m already feeling the weight of the holidays bearing down on me.  It’s a little different this time around, but it’s still there.  This is the first year since I’ve been a teenager that I haven’t had to work during the holidays.  Retail kind of conditioned me to dread this time of year, and it’s hard to shake that.  Even over Thanksgiving I felt this lingering pressure as if I was about to be fired for not showing up on Black Friday.

I know this might not be an issue for everyone, or maybe some of you are in situations where you can’t really afford to sit back and take a moment, but at the very least try and catch your breath.  I feel like my life is moving so fast and I rarely take a moment to enjoy it.  So that’s what I’m trying to do right now, and savor the moment, and relax a little bit.

I know this whole post is a little more introspective and serious than I normally shoot for with the blogs, but this feeling weighs on me every year and I felt like sharing that.  It’ll be back to jokes and goofs next week, but for now I’d like to say thank you for reading, and I hope your holidays treat you and yours well.