Thursday, December 17, 2009

Winter blues

I try to keep my boo-hooing out of this blog to focus on crafting and cooking and all those fun things. However, I'm suffering from a bad case of the winter blues this year, and right now, that's the only thing on my mind. Something about the cold snap and the holidays turns my smile upside-down for a month or so. My creativity dries up, my motivation wanes, and all I want to do is watch bad TV while curled up on the couch. I'm pretty good at handling my own stress, but the blues are always a challenge for me. I spend much of the year upbeat. Dealing with the downs is something I'm still figuring out.

I'm incredibly lucky, so being blah makes me feel guilty on top of everything. So, I am appealing to my blog readers to lend me a hand. How do you cheer yourself out of a funk? I'm willing to try almost anything (within reason, of course), so let me have it. I'll post about anything I try.

Thanks, my lovely readers!

6 comments:

Funkybella said...

Well, darling, I usually allow it for a day...wallow, eat chocolate, stay in pj's and watch tv. Then plan something for the next day, something that you may enjoy, like ice skating or lunch with someone. It has to be out in society. I'm a homebody; if I had my way, I'd never leave the house. I don't like being around people, usually; I have to force myself. But when I do, even though it feels like torture, it gets easier.
Then you just suck it up and tell yourself you will make it through. When you do, give yourself a little reward.

That is what works for me. Make sure you are getting outside. I know it's cold, but we need sunlight and fresh air to function (serotonin levels and all that). Bundle up and take a walk every day (that's helping me).

"...baby steps down the hall, baby steps into the elevator..."

Love ya!

Holly said...

Here are some things that typically help me when I'm feelin' the blues:

-Music, music, and more music. I find it virtually impossible to feel sad while listening to an upbeat song.

-Laughter. I have found that funny movies (and bad television too) can work wonders on my mood.

-Indulgences. For me, these typically involve something consumable, such as hot tea, baked goods, or a warm bowl of soup. But it can also be a haircut or treating yourself to a cute new shirt.

-Hard liquor. Hahaha that's actually the last thing I would recommend to someone who's feeling blue. But I still wanted to throw it in there as a cheap attempt to make you smile.

-Cuddles. Make Grey give you some good lovin', and you'll be feeling better in no time. I read somewhere that if you hug someone for 30+ seconds, your endorphins will start running wild. So don't just give him a crappy side-hug, really squeeze on that man of yours until the happy kicks in.

Hope you start feeling better soon! This world is just not right unless it's got a happy Brigid in it. :-)

Holly Hall said...

Well, the lovely ladies that have visited this post before me have offered wonderful suggestions. I second the haircut idea! Nothing makes me feel more refreshed and pampered that a salon shampoo and a trim. Even a half inch off can make you feel like a new woman!

janet said...

Brigid, I always feel that way this time of year too. I think part of it is that we are coming to the shortest day of the year (for daylight), so I try to get sunlight and fresh air when possible. I also find that exercise helps me feel better. Do you get enough omega 3's? They can affect your mood too.

Don't feel guilty, no one can be upbeat all the time.

Robin Thomas said...

Brigid, I go in and out of the blues and worse. Finally a couple of years ago, emerging from a very bad depression, I started doing yoga. There was something about the simplicity of meditation. My point is this, I finally realized I don't really have to fight to get out of the darkness. It is a necessary winter. A season that will show up, teach you something and pass. Hope that helps. Huuug.

Unknown said...

One of my favorite things to do has two directions it can go depending on the severity of my need.

If my need is somewhat minimal, then I like to search for a completely obscure TV show that I have never heard of before and I will watch an episode that is in the middle of the season and make up what must have happened before this episode and what I think will happen after this episode in the series...this is nice because it aloows me to give my mind a lot of freedom to go in whatever direction it wants and yet has a little bit of structure to build on.

If I am much further down in the funk, I like to find an episode of a TV show that is NOT in english. This can be a heck of a lot of fun because when I do this, I am allowing my mind virtually complete freedom!

My favorite thing about both of these remedies is that they only take about 30 minutes out of the day which be nice on busier days.

Hope you get to feeling less bad funky and more good funky! :)

~Adam

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