It’s a small oblong of lined paper, and it’s got about ten things scribbled on it. It’s my foundation for a treatment for a deadly disease that grips me every winter. I get seasonal affect disorder in winter- bad. Tack up a notice on the front door – Enter at your own risk, grump at large!
Now it didn’t use to. It started creeping up on me about the time the kids were old enough to be out of the house and on their own. When they were young, I did not have the time for it. There was much too much to do with a family of six, plus pets. But times change, and there is less to do, and more time to fill.
Solutions?
Towards the end of last winter, I began to realize that the solution might be in planning. So the list started. Not all of these will work, and that’s OK. If only one or two help, it’ll be enough to turn the mid-winter blahs into a successful, creative, and worthwhile winter. Sometimes small successes build and have yielded large benefits.
What’s on the list?
- Yoga – perhaps at a local community center
- Physical Therapy – for my arthritis. help me increase mobility
- Attending programs at the local Senior Center. I’m iffy on this one, cribbage, TV and old movies are not my thing.
- Guitar practice. I’ve already started my comeback – better watch out I’m a terror!
- Coffee out regularly – Drgoon old friends from their winter cocoons for coffee and bages once a week.
- Health club. A bit pricy, but a local club has an indoor track that I can use to walk on, and all the machines I might need.
- Concerts- find localchoral societies, musical groups, and get my wife and i out once a month.
- New games – board, or on line. Get a game night going.
- Heat for the shop do I can spend more time out in it working
- Adult Education Courses.
The final one, the adult education courses, was the last item I researched online last night. It turned up a few organizations in nearby towns that might fit my needs.
Buttoning down solutions to my winter-time issue does not require all of them to work; just a few. It’s late August now, and I’ll continue to refine and research my list. The objective isn’t to prepare a plan, but to promote a process that opens me to solutions before I need them, and encourages me to think about options before I become desperate.
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I think this is a great list, Lou. There was a mall in Billings MT the installed those lights that imitate sunlight and it set aside hours for people to come and walk. I think it was great and so did my Uncle Bob who took advantage of it. After the walk, he and a bunch of buddies went for coffee. My Aunt Dickie said it made my uncle a lot happier during winter. As for me, I get happy when I’m learning new things. I have done some online classes over some of the various summers — Icelandic Sagas as great and I learned stuff.
Well, Last year I decided that “doing” something was vastly superior to moping. For you and me, our creative endeavors are also a big part of how we succeed at the low end of the year.
Absolutely redemptive.
I agree that this is a great list. More important, in my personal opinion, is the habit of thinking of things that will help. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, you are keeping an eye out for anything else that could be added to the list. It’s super healthy.
I have a “happy bag,” that I have recently created. It’s for days when I’m sad and can’t think of anything to snap me out of it. The bag is filled with tiny things (love notes, photos, gifts from others) that nearly always make me smile, or remember something fondly. It’s my version of your list.
some people don’t need to organize like we do. But our plans gelp cut recovery time.
This is a great idea, if you stick with your list you’re going to be very busy.
Some might work for a couple of days, some for a few weeks, and some may fail, but the idea is to have variety and choice.