It’s time we bring our body into the mental health conversation.

Hi! I’m Cassandra.

Every fall, I used to enter Hermit Mode because I felt like I needed to go into hiding. I was less motivated, more lethargic, and low on energy, while everyone else seemed excited to dress up for Halloween. And ugh…forget about “exciting plans” for the holidays, I just couldn’t match that energy. And I thought something was wrong with me.
To cope, I drank. From Halloween through MLK Jr. Day, it was a blur—just enough alcohol to take the edge off, but not enough to lose control. The darkness would start to lift around February, but if I’m being honest, I lived in high-functioning depression until spring. I silently resented all the happy people who had no idea what I was going through.
Then, in 2020, I learned about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during an interview on my old podcast. I was interviewing a therapist who mentioned the term, and I could have cried with relief. It had a name! It wasn’t just me in drowning in sadness. I wasn’t doing anything wrong and I wasn’t broken. Because it had a name, then I wasn’t the only one. My hurt wasn’t personal. That helped… for a while.
Then a few years after that, I learned something that changed my life. I learned about the seasons.
Yes, the actual seasons.
It sounds simple, but it rocked my world. Why? Because, I realized that nothing was wrong with how I felt. As a matter of fact, everything around me was also slowing down. Trees were letting go. The sun was retreating. Nature was moving into stillness… and so was I.
THAT realization brought freedom… and a little anger. Why weren’t we taught this? Why were we labeled as disordered when our biology was doing exactly what nature does?
We are not broken. We are just misinformed.
Since giving myself permission to be human, I no longer suffer from seasonal depression. That doesn’t mean SAD isn’t real, or that your experience isn’t valid. It is. But before you accept a diagnosis, gather more information. Study not just Western medicine, but natural rhythms and remedies. The goal isn’t to find a cure. Just knowing more about what is going on with you can shift everything. It feels like healing.
This guide is filled with simple, often overlooked tools…because healing isn’t always complex. Sometimes it’s so simple, it seems ridiculous. And that’s exactly why we aren’t taught it.
So, from my heart to yours and in collaboration with Joselyn Zambrana LCSW, this guide is for every human heart that just wants to feel like themselves again.