Ways to Beat the Blues and Loneliness During the Holidays w/Counselor Matt Lawson

‘Tis the season to be…lonely? This year will not look like the typical Hallmark Holiday Movie for most of us. In fact, feelings of loss and loneliness will be just as plentiful as elves on shelves and stockings hung by the fire. We made a conscious decision to create an episode where we mentally reframe and reimagine the holiday experience for anyone who is feeling the harsh effects of 2020. Professional Counselor, Matt Lawson, of Chicago Compass Counseling joins us as we acknowledge the pain while we also inject a little light, love, and hope.

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"Imagine Yourself" is hosted by Lanée Blaise and Sandy Kovach—two dynamic voices with a passion for inspiring and uplifting others. Lanée, a TV writer, producer, motivational speaker, and podcaster, brings powerful storytelling and insight. Sandy, a radio personality, voiceover artist, and podcaster, delivers warmth and wisdom with every conversation. Broadcasting from the Detroit Metro area, they welcome guests from around the world to share valuable perspectives on health, career growth, faith, and personal transformation. Tune in and imagine the possibilities for your life!

Transcript

Lanée Blaise [00:00:00]:
Wishing warm and loving hugs to everyone listening out there in podcast land. I'm Lanee.

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:07]:
And this is Sandy. Happy holidays, Lanee. What are we imagining?

Lanée Blaise [00:00:11]:
Well, this time of year brings about a lot of imagining and reflecting, and we did want to acknowledge that for some, the holidays are not a time where everything is just bright and cheerful, especially this particular year, right?

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:30]:
Oh my gosh. Yes.

Lanée Blaise [00:00:31]:
There's been so much genuine loss and sadness and loneliness. So we wanted to dedicate some special attention to anyone who is trying to make it through all of this. We decided that we would invite a former guest that we absolutely love because he is always so able to help see our significant struggles whenever we're going through them, but he is here to help us find some hope for the holidays. Matt Lawson is a licensed professional counselor with Chicago Compass Counseling, and we want to open arm welcome him and thank him for helping us navigate through this holiday season. Matt, we need you. We welcome you today, Matt Lawson. Hey, Doctor. Matt.

Matt Lawson [00:01:20]:
Hey, guys. How's it going? Thanks for having me back on the show. I get the theme here that I'm I'm like the lonely guy. So that's

Sandy Kovach  [00:01:28]:
We had a lot of great feedback on our episode before that we had you on about loneliness because loneliness is a problem all year round as you know, and as you kind of, you surprised us with the hugeness of the problem of loneliness. So we've got 2020, as Lanee said. We've got the holidays, which people feel weird about for different reasons, things that are happening in their family, etcetera, etcetera, or people they can't see, which is amplified again this year. So I guess the 2 things that we're looking for, what are we telling our listeners that are feeling that loneliness and what are we telling those around them? How do they know how to reach out? And I'll let Doctor Loneliness take it from

Matt Lawson [00:02:07]:
there. Yes. Yes, it's you know as much as we kind of laugh about this a little bit this year has been pretty amazing with what we're seeing in the therapy world with people just really struggling. Definitely as we pushed into the holidays and the colder months up here up North, we're getting lots and lots of reports of just increases in depression and anxiety, and things that we typically see around this time of year, but have definitely had like an asterisk, had, an exclamation point actually added to the end of it with everything else that's been going on. People are feeling isolated. They're feeling isolated. They're feeling like they can't connect with other people. It's interesting, with a lot of the people that I talk to on a regular basis.

Matt Lawson [00:02:53]:
There's a couple of different camps around, like people that are natural introverts and they're pretty happy with, some of the way things are going right now. And my extroverts that are going completely stir crazy. But even with those two camps of individuals, you're still seeing this sense of loneliness with the holidays kicking in. One of the things that I think is pretty interesting are people's expectations around what the holidays are. And like everybody wants that Hallmark holiday, right? Everybody wants that. They put that ugly sweater on. They go to the the family's house. The eggnog is just, like, right there waiting for them.

Matt Lawson [00:03:35]:
Putting the star on the tree, having that Christmas Eve dinner, all those little traditions that we've had. And that's just not happening this year. That's not happening for a lot of us this year. That expectation alone, it's like one of the big things that we're seeing. It's just really weighing on people. This isn't the way things should be and it should be different. We're kind of leaning into some things here that have been helpful that aren't too crazy. Did you guys want me to just kinda like start talking about some of the things people can do?

Sandy Kovach  [00:04:04]:
Yeah, let's start with the Christmas tactics like what people can do Yeah. The Santa squad. Yeah. What can we do here to make it feel a little more normal?

Matt Lawson [00:04:18]:
Okay. So piggybacking off of what I just said about expectations. One of the first things that we can do is temper those expectations. So this is a little bit of a reinvention of what we see as our holiday get togethers, what we see as what the holidays should be. It's funny. I when I was thinking about this stuff, I remembered my very first Christmas away from my family. And not just away from my family, but I had to be at work for a 20 hour shift. This is when I worked in the hospital.

Matt Lawson [00:04:48]:
I worked in surgery. I was, like, in my late mid to late twenties. And it was me doing phone calls, like, yeah. You know, I'm not gonna be coming home this year. I was on low man on the totem pole. I had to work through the holidays and it was fun. Like, I actually went on a run to Denny's to get breakfast for our team. And they just gave us all Christmas breakfast for free.

Matt Lawson [00:05:12]:
Oh! You know, like, that memory is something that's, like, always stood out for me. When I think about kind of this reinvention of expectations, when I think about, like, changing those expectations, that became a really fond memory for me. As much as I was, like, away from family, away from friends for that time of year, that is one of the fondest memories I have of Christmas, connecting with those people I was working with over this kind of shared misery of not being able to see our families. And it's like a really fun memory for me.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:47]:
I love that because, Matt, what you're kind of also reminding us is we do believe that this is hopefully set to be a one timer. I am truly believing that by next year, our holiday season at Christmas time and New Year's time won't look like it is this particular year. So there is the possibility that we all collectively can look back and say, what a Christmas that was. You know, for all of our essential workers who, like you said, will be doing these shifts on Christmas day and and during Hanukkah and New Year's and things like that. But, also, like you said, the ones who will be spending it alone because they were quarantined and things like that. So possibly, we'll be able to kinda look at it and get not necessarily humor per se, but we'll, like, we'll all be able to say, wow. What about that? But now I have another one too, Matt, because I bet you get the things that are different from one particular year. I just think about grief is the hardest one and divorce is like the second hardest one because you feel the immense difference between what Christmas used to look like and was supposed to look like versus what it now will look like without that person, and that won't just be this one particular year.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:06]:
How do you help people move forward in that season when it's been an actual loss with grief or divorce or other.

Matt Lawson [00:07:17]:
Yes. Yes. So this is a process. Like, any significant loss in our lives, and we're seeing a lot of that this year. Gosh, pretty much everybody I know has in some way been touched significantly by a loss of a loved one due to COVID.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:33]:
Yeah.

Matt Lawson [00:07:33]:
So we're seeing a lot of grief this year. And any significant change in a person's life like that, any significant loss in a person's life like that has a process process that goes into allowing them to come to a place of understanding and recognition of what has happened and that loss in their life. So again, this idea of reinventing these times, not so much running away from the feelings that we have for those people, running away from the grief that we have. Kind of changing how we look at it, considering how we can honor those people that we lost with this event that meant a lot to us and meant a lot to them and how we move forward. I mean, seriously, you would want that for the people that you love. If you died or you left them, you would want them to enjoy that time. And I think it's hard to remember that with that sense of this person not being here, but it is like once we process through those feelings, once we kind of come to a place of recognition and get to understanding how we can honor them with what we're doing during this time of year.

Sandy Kovach  [00:08:39]:
Maybe buying a special ornament or

Matt Lawson [00:08:41]:
Oh, yeah.

Sandy Kovach  [00:08:42]:
Something like that.

Matt Lawson [00:08:43]:
Yeah. Or reliving something that was special to them. Like Lanee they were like big meatloaf fans. I don't know. Yeah. Always make always making the holiday meatloaf.

Sandy Kovach  [00:08:54]:
Yeah. Something like that to bring it back. I like both of my parents at separate times passed away, not on Christmas, but during the holiday season. And I remember coping with 1 year when I was younger, when I lost my mom, not younger as a child, but a younger adult with Christmas movies. And I every time I see the Santa Claus because I lost my mom in the nineties. But I don't get sad anymore about it, but I used to. But that was what I literally went to the movie by myself. I remember in 94 and sat and watched the Santa Claus.

Sandy Kovach  [00:09:26]:
So things like that. I don't know. I mean, we all have our different coping mechanisms.

Matt Lawson [00:09:30]:
Yes. Yeah. My grandfather used to belt out white Christmas in this, like, deep baritone, like, thing. And every time on the radio, it's, like, instant, like, oh, yes. I remember that. Like, those are the types of things that we can embrace. Those are the types of things that we can use to help us honor those memories.

Sandy Kovach  [00:09:49]:
Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:09:50]:
Makes me think too that we those are kind of like triggers, and we think of triggers usually in a bad way, but Lanee, like you said, if we're trying to reframe it all, maybe we can think of these triggers in a good way. And we may cry when we think of, you know, when that song comes on or when that movie comes on, there may be tears, but it's still, like you said, such a precious way to honor their memories. And I never thought about the fact that what would I want others to see and think and feel if I were not there. I don't want them to not cry ever. Maybe they can cry the first day. But I'm like, I'm like, especially my husband, I want him to cry a little bit. But then I want him to be happy and be joyful and to be able to say, you know, I bet Lanee would love this. She would have had her little Santa hat on, her little bells.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:42]:
I know that not everyone is there, but I personally love even saying the names of my loved ones who are no longer with us. I know with divorce, sometimes you might not really wanna be saying their names so much, but but you just kinda say, well, they're over there and I'm over here. I gotta make the best of it. I know crazy enough, the other end kind of what Sandy was saying, my mother who is still with us, she is going to be physically by herself for the whole Christmas period because of COVID and quarantining and things like that. So she already started back, like, last week, figuring out how she mentally wants to wrap her head around the fact that she is going to be alone, but that she doesn't want to feel lonely. And so she's got all these inspirational books. She decorated her house the way she wanted to. She bought a few Christmas presents, but she didn't go crazy and break her budget.

Lanée Blaise [00:11:40]:
She's trying to focus on the good things because there has been loss, and she wants to protect herself from some of that. But is there something else, some other things she should do to try to push on through this season as best she can Lanee?

Matt Lawson [00:11:55]:
Yes. So I love that she's, like, really decorating. That's another thing that I think can be very helpful for people and something that I've seen a lot people doing is going a little overboard with their decorations more so than they typically would. Just to kind of, again, kind of embrace that space, where they are and kind of change it into something that allows for that celebration to come a little bit easier. Something else that I think is really important is to really adopt like a gratitude mindset around the things that you do have. Yes. With this year, it is hard not to focus on the loss. It is hard not to focus on the difficult times this has been for so many people.

Matt Lawson [00:12:33]:
But there are things that we can focus on our lives. If you just want to get basic. I mean, that's an easy place to kind of go. You know, our families, our health, name it. If you really sit down and think about it, even people that have significant amount of loss in their lives can find something that they can feel gratitude toward. And I really invite people just to think about that for a second. And what they do have over the holidays, what they can embrace.

Sandy Kovach  [00:13:02]:
Think about that and maybe talk about that with their family. Maybe if you're have some young kids, maybe make sure you emphasize it with them because I'm sure you're feeling this as well. Maybe they can go visit grandma and do the things that they're used to doing. It's certainly, they don't have their school plays, all the things that we get used to traditionally over the holidays. Now, Lanee mentioned that her mom was gathering things together that are inspirational books and decorating and things like that. What about little technology things that we can do as so that we can kind of honor our traditions? I hear some people are mailing their gifts to their loved ones and then everyone's opening them together via Zoom or Skype or whatever on Christmas morning, things like that.

Matt Lawson [00:13:47]:
It is wild to me where we are right now with the video conferencing and just some of the other ways people are reaching out. Like video game communities are blowing up. It's really wild to see kind of this new world that we're going into where we we can be connected via this format. Right? Via Zoom, via Skype, via TikTok, whatever people are using to connect with people. But, yes. I mean, it's not gonna go away. If anything, I think this has shown people that I know have told me that their companies are downsizing their office spaces. 1 person that works for an organization in particular that they're like, Yeah, we're pretty much gonna change the office into like a shared WeWork type space.

Matt Lawson [00:14:27]:
I don't know if you guys are familiar with like WeWork. It's one of those shared spaces where you just pay for a desk. The organization's like, yeah. We're basically gonna just have this little space. And if you wanna come in, you can come in, but everybody's going remote from now on. So, you know, families like being able to kind of look at this and really kind of lean into it a bit. And, you know, I love that idea of doing a, like, a Zoom present opening. People are using that.

Matt Lawson [00:14:53]:
People are using social media in a healthy way to connect with others.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:58]:
Finally.

Matt Lawson [00:15:00]:
Social media is

Sandy Kovach  [00:15:01]:
podcast where we won't bash social media. Yes.

Matt Lawson [00:15:04]:
It's all about how you use social media. Especially during the holidays, you can use it in a very healthy way to connect with people, to get pumped up a little bit for the holidays. You can use it in a very unhealthy way to bring yourself down.

Sandy Kovach  [00:15:18]:
By comparing yourself to others. And that would be an unhealthy way to use social media.

Lanée Blaise [00:15:24]:
And you have to watch who you follow. You better follow some uplifting

Matt Lawson [00:15:32]:
Lanee. There's definitely some bad players in the social media world. Social media in general is is always gonna be the idealized best looks for everybody. Right? Nobody's gonna really post, like, when they're down and struggling. Some people do. But most of the time, people are gonna be, like, posting them at their best, especially around this time of year. And I'm not saying that that can't be positive. There are people that kind of do it to an extent that it's almost like, hey, look at me.

Matt Lawson [00:16:01]:
I'm better than you type stuff.

Sandy Kovach  [00:16:02]:
That is true. And sometimes though it's people have good intentions.

Matt Lawson [00:16:06]:
Yes.

Sandy Kovach  [00:16:06]:
I saw something come across on my Facebook feed that said because of COVID-nineteen, he was hoping that a lot of people didn't post about like Christmas shopping and certain things like that. What do you think? I mean, I've tried to be super sensitive as well to that fact. A lot of people are struggling right now and maybe this is a good place to kind of shift our talk to the economic piece. You know, we talked about the health piece and the mental health piece. And what's a good way to cope if you're not working right now?

Matt Lawson [00:16:37]:
That's another one of the more significant fallouts that we have been seeing over the holiday season is so many people being out of work. I think the new numbers just came through for Illinois. And it was like some 154,000 people just filed for unemployment up from last week. So that's like on the rise. So, you know, for so many people this holiday is going to be a tough one. Part of it is kind of coming back around to understanding some of the things that you do have. Mhmm. But there's nothing wrong with embracing the fact that you feel bad right now.

Matt Lawson [00:17:07]:
This is a good time to reach out to get some support as well. Whether it be a therapist or a good friend or family members. I know people struggle sometimes with asking for help. And there can oftentimes be some shame associated with being vulnerable and asking for help. But if you're in this place where you've lost your job, where that so many people have, and you're not Lanee. If there's gonna be any time in our lives that people are gonna understand, I think it's gonna be now. People might need to swallow a little pride and just reach out for that support whether it be emotional, psychological, or maybe even financial.

Sandy Kovach  [00:17:40]:
Yeah. So

Matt Lawson [00:17:41]:
we you know, whatever they can do. I think

Lanée Blaise [00:17:43]:
too it makes me realize that may be a season of their life because of everything that's going on now. But one day, the hope is for them or even for those of us who still are working right now, I've heard that sometimes one of the ways to not feel so down is to try to focus on being of service to someone else. And that may look different ways. That may be as simple as being someone who posts on social media a special prayer or a special thought or special affirmation once a day for the holiday season.

Matt Lawson [00:18:21]:
Yes.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:21]:
It may be volunteering somewhere. It might be mentoring someone. It might be giving to a fundraiser. It might even be I've seen a lot in my neighborhood, even on our Nextdoor app. They're saying, do you know a family in need? Because we, on our street, wanna get together and help that family, whether it be something like you said because of a loss of job or sometimes it's a house fire, different things. There are still good people out there who are trying to do good things, and those who can Can do it and those who are not in the space right now to be able to do that? Can be the recipients of it. I know, Sandy, for those who can, we have on Imagine Yourself podcast on our Facebook page. We have a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House charities That we're raising money because this has been a hard year for charities because there's just not been enough So for those who can people have been given to that.

Lanée Blaise [00:19:18]:
And Sandy and I have been so delightfully surprised. And at the same time, those who can't give, I want them to just as beautifully embrace receiving because it's balanced. It's good to give. It's good to receive. And that there's no, like you said, no shame in that, especially because you're not alone in this. It makes me think anyone who can help. There's all different kinda little cute ways or fun ways or good solid ways you can help that may involve money, may not involve money, but it's just necessary to keep us all up. Yeah.

Matt Lawson [00:19:51]:
I'm so glad you brought that up. It's such a an important point and something really important to keep in mind. And yes, that absolutely does break loneliness, giving back to others. There's gonna be a lot of opportunities this year to do that. I mean, just think about that person in your neighborhood whose kids can't come over and shovel their driveway, shovel their sidewalk.

Sandy Kovach  [00:20:10]:
Yes.

Matt Lawson [00:20:11]:
Think about those long lines that they have for these food bank depositories right now. Like you see these on television, these lines of cars that are hours long just picking up boxes of food. They need volunteers to hand that stuff out. Like, This year, I think, will provide some pretty unique opportunities for people to support others. That has been one ray of just sunshine when I see these stories on the news of individuals like putting together like bags of food that they ride their bikes around in the neighborhood and just give to people that that are in need. The homeless in particular this year, they're not getting the funding that they typically get. Keep that in mind. A lot of these organizations and charitable funds have lost a lot of their contributors because everybody's hurting so much.

Matt Lawson [00:20:56]:
And if you do have and you can give, this is the time to do it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:21:00]:
And if everybody gives a little, like Lanee was saying, we have the fundraiser on our Facebook page, Ronald McDonald House of Detroit, just such a great cause that helps kids and their families. We've had small and large donations, but it all adds up. So if you're of the mind to whether it's that fundraiser or to a local food bank or there are plenty of ways. Facebook makes it so easy too.

Matt Lawson [00:21:23]:
Oh, it does. Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:21:24]:
And the physical things like that are free too, like Matt said, with the shoveling the snow for someone or leaving a little, I don't know, box of groceries on someone that you know they're struggling or something to just lift. It's almost like you mentioned too with people decorating. Look for the light. I think people like Christmas lights and decoration lights and holiday lights and fireworks and stuff because it's light. Look for some light. Be some light. Make some light. Manufacture some light and love and joy in some little kind of way.

Lanée Blaise [00:21:54]:
You know, we're kind of at the part 2 now where we want to ask 2 things. We always have takeaway time where we see what kind of takeaways we have, but we also were wondering, Matt, how do we reach out or connect if this podcast was all nice and helpful? But if you need more, if someone actually needs to see a counselor or reach out, what would you suggest in that case, whether they're in the Chicago area or not?

Matt Lawson [00:22:20]:
There's a decent amount of resources right now for online counseling in particular. You can literally just Google an online therapy. You're gonna get a handful of groups. I work for Talkspace. BetterHelp's another one that's out there. So they make therapy really easy. Psychologytoday.com has a great feature where you can just search therapists and psychologists in your area. You can search by insurance.

Matt Lawson [00:22:47]:
You can search by issue. You can search by anything. And pretty much all therapists I don't know any therapists that are doing face to face right now. So pretty much everybody is online right now. I've had a couple people inquire about seeing them in person and it's just not gonna happen. I don't see us going back to our practice probably until the spring ish, maybe even the summer just depending on when the how the vaccine rollouts go. But definitely one of the nice things about what's going on is the accessibility of therapy because everybody is pretty much online right now. I did have a resource.

Matt Lawson [00:23:22]:
I have a really fun article that I can send you guys if you wanna post with this podcast Yeah. From Scott Kelly. He was interviewed. He is a retired astronaut. He spent, like, almost a year on the International Space Station. He was interviewed by Connect to Effect. It's a nice little article. It just kinda like talks about some of the things that he did to fend off loneliness in space for almost a year.

Matt Lawson [00:23:46]:
Wow. So I can send you that article if you want to include that.

Sandy Kovach  [00:23:48]:
Definitely. We'll put that on imagine yourself podcast.com.

Matt Lawson [00:23:51]:
Yeah. But, that connect to effects site actually has some pretty good resources, as well. And I don't think enough can be said too about really making it a point to reach out to family and friends, maybe people that you haven't connected to in a while. And just talking to them or saying hi or just telling them that you're thinking about them that can really go a long way.

Sandy Kovach  [00:24:12]:
A simple text message sometimes, you know, send a gift, anything.

Lanée Blaise [00:24:16]:
And I'm thinking too for my older folks. I have my uncle Jimmy, my uncles, my aunts, my little ladies who used to take care of me when I was little or sick. I have got to reach out. That should be my first priority to just and they will not take a text. They need a phone call. But, I need to just be mindful to call them too because they have been unable to get out in all of this this year. And I love them. And they have loved me.

Lanée Blaise [00:24:45]:
And that's the least I can do. It doesn't have to be a gift or a package, but a call. And I know that generationally, phone calls and things like that are getting harder for folks to really embrace. But in this season, we really have to do that. I love that you all are saying too that just reaching out. Sit for a minute and somebody pops into your mind, you know that you haven't reached out to them in a while, that's maybe a signal. You know, they popped into your mind for a reason to just reach out to them.

Matt Lawson [00:25:15]:
Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:16]:
Matt, I think you have podcasts and YouTube sessions that people can take a look at if they'd like to as well. How would one take a look at that?

Matt Lawson [00:25:25]:
Yeah. So, I'm doing a lot of our social media stuff for our practice, Chicago Compass Counseling here in Chicago. We are launching a podcast here in the coming month. Uncanny Psychology. It's going to be exploring this unique and little talked about phenomenas in the psychology world, the therapy world. It should be a fun one. I'm leaning a little bit more toward entertainment than information. I don't know if anybody's ever listened to like lore, but it's gonna be kind of similar to that.

Matt Lawson [00:25:55]:
And then we have a YouTube channel for, Chicago Compass Counseling. Things like blogs, but we're really working to create something where people can use our website, some of our social media things as a resource. So we have a lot of different contributors within the group and out of our group bringing some curated content that can be really helpful. Our practice does focus on moderation when it comes to drinking alcohol, which is a whole other topic that we should probably talk about at some point.

Lanée Blaise [00:26:26]:
Especially during the holidays. Yeah.

Matt Lawson [00:26:28]:
Especially during the holidays.

Lanée Blaise [00:26:30]:
New year's. New year's.

Matt Lawson [00:26:31]:
You can bring me back next year and we can talk moderation about the holidays. Yeah. But, that tends to be one of our focuses. But we also lean a lot into just like racial injustice and some of the, the racial trauma that people have experienced. You know, definitely something that has become highlighted through kind of the happenings of this year. And it's something that our practice works really hard to support people in our community around.

Sandy Kovach  [00:26:57]:
So we can put the link to all of that stuff on our website as well. Like Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Chicago Compass Counseling, all of them.

Lanée Blaise [00:27:05]:
That almost might be our takeaway right there to just look. But is there just, like, a one sentence thing that you want us to kinda go away with as we head into the holidays?

Matt Lawson [00:27:16]:
Happy holidays. We're looking forward to 2021. You know That's okay. Keep in mind that you have more control over the way you think about these things, the way you think about your loneliness, the way you think about some of these thoughts, you have a lot more control over this than you realize. People have to keep in mind that these are your thoughts. These are things that are bouncing around in your head that you own. And you can absolutely take those thoughts and embrace them, and tell them what to do. It's

Sandy Kovach  [00:27:49]:
Tell them what to do.

Matt Lawson [00:27:50]:
Yeah. Tell them what

Lanée Blaise [00:27:51]:
to do. Tell them what to do.

Matt Lawson [00:27:52]:
Tell them

Sandy Kovach  [00:27:52]:
what to

Lanée Blaise [00:27:52]:
go somewhere else.

Matt Lawson [00:27:54]:
Yeah. Tell them where to go. That's absolutely a thing. And people can often times feel like they don't have the power to do that. And if there's anything that I can say, is there anything that I can leave you with just some empowerment around, yeah, you do have a little bit more control over that than you realize. Allow those thoughts to come and let them know that you're the boss.

Lanée Blaise [00:28:15]:
Drop the mic, Matt Lawson. That is perfect takeaway.

Sandy Kovach  [00:28:20]:
You're the boss of your thoughts.

Lanée Blaise [00:28:22]:
Yes. New quote for 2021. We thank you, Matt. Thank you for telling us.

Matt Lawson [00:28:30]:
Hey. My pleasure. My pleasure.

Lanée Blaise [00:28:32]:
This. So everyone, besides that part, that's really just I almost should just stop right here, but we always do end with an imagine yourself. So I am gonna say in light of all of this, imagine yourself realizing that this is a season that was meant to be about love. And we can love and honor ourselves. We can love and honor the memories of those who are physically not present with us. We can love and honor those that we can be a blessing to and help and give to. We came into this world alone and we're gonna go out of this world alone, but we don't have to let those thoughts of loneliness rule us. We can rule them.

Lanée Blaise [00:29:21]:
So we just say imagine yourself getting all the blessings and love and light that you possibly can during this season. Hear from Imagine Yourself, Matt, Sandy, Lanee.

Sandy Kovach  [00:29:32]:
Thanks for listening. Love to get your feedback at imagine yourself podcast.com. Email us, connect with us on social media, and hopefully, subscribe for our podcast as well. And until next time, when we have something new to imagine, take care of yourself.