It took a full week after the official start of the holiday season, but I spell relief by just starting in on my gift list. You know the holidays can be stressful for many of us with questions like what is the perfect gift for that not so perfect friend and so on and so on. Well, thanks to my brave wife for joining me in my annual expedition, but I made a serious dent into the holiday shopping this weekend and lowered my holiday stress a lot. I don’t know how you procrastinators do it; it can’t be good for your health….and you know how I feel about staying healthy (but for those of you who stand in line over night for BestBuy and Target etc….I am not that healthy yet!!!)
Another way that I spell relief is comic relief. There is so much science and folk lore out there to support that laughing is good for you. There are some places (I think it might be in India) where people actually gather around in the street and just do good old belly laughs. So I have really enjoyed the concept of people changing their profile pictures on Facebook to be that of cartoon characters. Didn’t we all grow up watching cartoons of one kind or another? I remember so many of them…too many to mention. So why did I pick Michigan J Frog? One of my older brother’s friends gave me the nick name ‘Frog’ way back when I was in grade school. All of my brother’s friends called me throughout high school, college and even if they see me today. I even tell my little patients that they can call me Dr. Frog because that’s what my friends call me. So, next time you are in the office, feel free to call me Frog. It brings back nothing but great memories of being a kid and fills me with warm feelings……………..it makes me laugh and that is R-E-L-I-E-F for me.