Is anyone else stuck in that midwinter black hole? You know. That vortex in January between New Years and President's Day when it's cold and gray and there isn't a holiday in sight, and you have to go from a letter size pad to a legal size pad for your to-do list, and your sister comes to your house and tells you you need to clean your range hood and you just don't even want to deal with her?
She really did, bless her heart. She sited some ridiculous statistic about home fires. Like anyone's house really burns. (Ours actually did, when I was 8 and she was 5, but it wasn't the range hood that started it, so I don't see what her concern is.)
Okay, so I shouldn't joke about house fires and I truly do know this from personal experience, but there's still that black hole issue.
My dad actually taught me how to deal with the midwinter astronomical blahhhhs. In fact, that is the point of this blog. I'm sharing one of the great truths of the universe.
You have to weight the positives.
In the middle of January, you have to find something, anything, to be the slightest bit enthusiastic about and then latch onto it with gusto!
The time my dad was teaching me this concept, he was encouraging me to buy a cantelope melon worth a small Hummer, but chocolate will work just as well and is cheaper. Mid winter rodeos are also good monotony breakers. They usually have one in Ogden about now and even if it's just bulls and I have to hide my face a good portion of the time, or suffer the "Mom, don't scream!" admonition, rodeos can perk you right up!
A good Julie Coulter Bellon does wonders too. I tried that last night and it was positively therapeutic! And now that I'm published, I can actually say, "Sorry, I need to read. Gotta keep up with what's going on in the literary world, ya' know?"
How great is that? Hey! That's another positive that I hadn't thought of today!
This works! I'm telling you! Just keep finding the positives. Give them unfair amounts of attention and ... Ta duh! February will be here and the Black birds will start to buzz and you can ski in your t-shirt and you've made it through another blaahhhh! Nice going! Jaclyn M. Hawkes
About Me
- Jaclyn M. Hawkes
- Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.
