Wintertime Sadness
Sorry Lana Del Rey, but I'm going steal your thunder real quick and talk about feeling down in the Winter. You can have your song back once we get back to the warmer months, and all is right in the world. Deal? Awesome - you're the best. Oh, how awesome it would be if I was actually talking to Lana Del Rey and she just happened to stumble upon this little corner of the internet of mine? I mean, it's probably never going to happen, but if she tends to google herself often then I've done what I can to make sure my post ranks somewhere in the first few pages. ;)
I know I can't be the only one who feels down when the days get shorter, the holidays are over, the temperatures drop and we're left in this sort of limbo with nothing to look forward to until Spring hits. I've never been a huge fan of this time of year. It never fails that once January hits, I get in a funk. I feel exhausted all the time, I have absolutely no motivation to get anything done (what's up New Year's Resolutions - haven't thought about you for a hot minute), and the worst part about it? I expect it to happen.
I get myself prepared to be in this funk for a few months while we hang out in limbo with terrible weather, and I mentally prepare myself for days spent on the couch doing absolutely nothing. Luckily this year has been a bit different because of some seriously exciting life changes with me solely focused on being a creative full time, but the lack of motivation is definitely still there; waiting for me to slip back into old Wintertime habits.
I first noticed this happening my junior year of high school - I had just switched schools, the same one that my high school boyfriend attended, and right before Winter hit he was going through some pretty heavy stuff. Without going into too much detail, he left school to get the help he needed and I was left to keep the cover story solid at a brand new school so no one would know what was actually going on. It was a lot for a 16 year old to handle, to say the least. I slipped into a depression, wasn't taking care of myself the way I should have, and invested way too much energy into something that was wildly out of my control. Maybe that was the beginning of it? Life changing experiences like those at such a young age have a way of leaving a much deeper impression on you than you had ever planned or hoped for.
It's amazing the things that you notice when you take the time to write things down, isn't it? I've never made that correlation before now. Fingers crossed that coming to this realization can help me tackle this whole wintertime sadness nonsense with a new sense of understanding, and maybe kick it to the curb for good!
Well, this post ended up a lot more like a journal entry, and though that's not how I had originally intended for it flow, I'm glad that it did. Sometimes you just need to write when inspiration hits, and just let the words come out, no matter how all over the place they sound ... Which in this case, inspiration hit from me totally procrastinating from baking some pretty little heart shaped strawberry pies that are making their way to this space tomorrow. :)
So, my question for you is this; do you struggle with feeling down, unmotivated or just not great in the Winter? Is there a specific time in your life that you can pinpoint when this started happening like I can? I'd love to get the conversation going down in the comments to see how we can help each other out!
Until next time -
