I know today is Bell Let’s Talk day and I’m not sure how to talk about the depression and anxiety that I face or if I even want to. Being on the Internet in itself gives me anxiety. Some days I just don’t feel like it at all, written about it a few times.  Sometimes I want to hide and pretend I don’t even have a blog. (Or Twitter, tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Selfish, Rdio, Google+, Vine, or phone.) I like keeping to myself on on those days, not sharing stories.  Being alone. My dad battled depression growing up and it was really hard for our family. He moved back to New Zealand to be with his family when my parents split up and it was tough for us. It sill is sometimes. * Thanks Andrew Mitchell for drawing this photo of me. I love it.   I want you to know that I too have days when I’m down and I’ve been through some very dark times and almost not made it through. It’s not always sunny where I am but I do try to bring my own sunshine to the internet each and every single time I make an appearance. My blog is a place you can count on to have bright colours and a fun photo. It’s helpful for me to look back and remember the good times too. This is a place to make you feel happy when a cloud tries to rain on your parade. I’ve worked through a bunch of sad days wondering what to do with my life and I made it through. Don’t ever give up. I wanted to quit blogging a few times over the last 10 years and I am damn well glad I didn’t. I want you to know, I am actually happy most of the time and I…

So, yesterday I wasn’t feeling so hot and I was hoping I was just tired from a busy weekend but today I am worse. My throat is sore and my whole body aches. I’m trying to look on the bright side, it’s forcing me to sit on the couch and spend some time with my computer and there’s a chance I might drop a few lbs before the New Year. I’m drinking heaps of water, have chicken soup, and Sean is home sick too. Our house is quarantine. I don’t get sick very often but I’ve blogged about it a few times: Entrpreneneurs Don’t Call in Sick, They Work Down with the sickness: How to do a Thyme Bath Sick, Mucus, Cold, Gross Looking back, I usually only get sick in winter. Apparently ‘it’s going around’, from my limited interaction with other humans the last 24 hours. After a really busy year I think a few days thrown up on the couch will do me well. I’ve finally set a date for the release of my book on Amazon and have an ISBN number. There’s no turning back now. When I wrote my first book, JEANS, back in 1996 there were waaaaaay more hoops to jump through in order to self-publish. Thanks to the Internet, you can now publish at the touch of your fingers. A photo posted by C A S I E S T E W A R T (@casiestewart) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:03pm PST I also signed up for ukulele lessons and I will be able to play by the time summer rolls around. I’ve been meaning to to both those things for a while so feeling pretty good the wheels are in motion for 2015. I have a great feeling about this year. 365 new days and…