This article was written in early November 2025.

It’s called the Misery Index. 

Google tracks how often people search for five words:
Depression. Anxiety. Pain. Stress. Fatigue. 

Depression and stress fluctuate the most.
Pain and anxiety spike on Mondays.
Stress and depression on Tuesdays.
Fatigue on Wednesdays. 

Searches rise in spring and fall, drop in summer, and crash during the holidays. 

The Misery Index peaks in March and April.
These are the worst months. 

It’s when divorce rates climb, mental health crises surge, isolation deepens, and too many people hit their breaking point. 

It’s also when many of the worst school attacks have occurred: 

Every one of them followed the exact Path to Violence:
Idea, Plan, Prepare, Attack. 

Most school attackers plan and prepare between 4 and 7 months before the attack. Seven months from now is March and April. 

If someone in your building is headed toward a violent choice, their planning window may have just begun. That means we have time to stop it but only if we start now. Not to panic or to harden. 

But to engage, engage, engage. 

Engagement is the answer.
Because the closer you are to students, the sooner you’ll see a negative trajectory. The earlier you catch it, the easier it is to stop it. And the more connected a student feels, the less likely they are to choose violence at all. 

We have a chance to use the months between now and spring to create the kind of environment and safety that prevents instead of reacts. 

So engage. Listen. Pay attention. Rebuild trust.
Re-energize relationships. Make your school feel different.

You don’t need to be perfect.
But you do need consistent, positive, human engagement and connection.
If you can make school a place where students feel seen, valued, and like they belong—everything changes including outcome. 

But you must start now.
The clock has started.