I asked listeners to share the tough scenarios they expect to encounter during the holidays and Christmas. I will start with Part 1, going through the themes of scenarios and sharing an idea on a shift you can try to make this season, from a counsellor's perspective.  The goal is to give you some tools on how to handle the reality that life can still be hard and things can feel tough, especially around this time of year.   The interview with Brandi Hofer of Colour Me Happy Community  * On Youtube - Brandi Hofer Studios * On the podcast - Colour Me Happy Community   Main topics covered in this episode: * The expectations of Christmas/The Holidays vs the emotions we carry as humans * 156. 3 things to know about feeling negative emotions * Anticipatory anxiety, one way to deal with it * 174. Christmas hygge ideas + understanding how the window of tolerance impacts your stress in motherhood * Tough scenarios during the holidays, lack of routines * 115. A Controlling mom, or a capable mom? * Overspending to make the holidays FEEL good * 141. When shopping isn’t making your life better (mindful and minimalist tips for shopping) * Being alone or missing family during the holidays * Times of transition during the holidays  * 67. Making motherhood harder than it needs to be (Mom Martyr) * Simple Christmas (all posts here)   FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:10 Hey friends, it's Shawna Scafe, your nerdy girlfriend and counsellor from simple on purpose.ca I thought I would add my last name in there because I never say it and you're probably reading it and don't really know how to pronounce it. So nice to meet you guys. My Instagram used to be Shawna Scafe. But the way it was written everyone thought it was Sean is cafe. And people were genuinely wondering where my cafe was. And that would be so dreamy to have a cafe so but I don't, I don't have a cafe. So I just changed my instagram name to simple on purpose. Anyways, here you are, you're at the simple and purpose podcast. Welcome. And today has been a really busy day. This morning, I did an interview with brandy Hofer. She is a Canadian artist. She's a muralist. She's a portrait artist. She's an educator, she's a speaker, and I have followed her work for actually a lot of years now. And I just love her work. It's so beautiful. It's like a feast for the heart. It's just so wonderful. And I recently had commented on one of her Instagram posts, and she wrote me right back, and she asked me to come on your podcast, which was so cool.