Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast · Christina & Lauren

#221 Anything Goes for the Holidays

·37 min·2 clips

Lauren recalls her dog Pico climbing into her lap after his ear was bitten, with no capacity to hold it against her.

1. Pickles and Vodka Episode #221, "Anything Goes for the Holidays," runs about 37 minutes and covers workplace frustration, post-Thanksgiving depression, and therapy. 2. Co-hosts Christina and Lauren, who joke "we're not therapists, but we pretend to be," talk about their own lives and mental health in a conversational format. 3. The central idea is that the stretch after Thanksgiving is a time to give yourself permission to cope however you can, since "anything goes" for the holidays. 4. Lauren describes feeling like "the redheaded stepchild" at work, citing $100 Amazon gift cards sent to coworkers for birthdays and a remote supervisor who proposes reminders and spreadsheets for colleagues. 5. Lauren connects this to being a self-sufficient oldest child who finds it hard to ask for help, and says her therapist noted her boyfriend, the youngest of five, "never had to ask for anything in his life." 6. Christina describes driving back from a weekend with friends in her old town, where her baby sister's engagement was news, and being hit by a "full on depressive episode" that she compares to an emotional crash after a dopamine high. 7. The hosts discuss romanticizing the past, with Christina recalling her sickest years in Seattle and Lauren recalling morning coffee in treatment, and both noting that periods of illness feel "simpler." 8. Christina shares a trick of imagining "this is going to be your past" to appreciate the present, and they land on the line "you're not allowed to feel guilty about things you do to stay alive." 9. Lauren tells how her dog Pico crawled into her lap during a five-hour drive home after his ear tip was bitten off, which she and her therapist identified as her first experience of unconditional love. 10. Listeners who relate to holiday depression, self-reliance, or therapy conversations would enjoy this episode.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast