Banishing The Blahs

I consider myself at risk when it comes to getting the winter blahs. Living in Western New York, we have a lot of gray days that are already sunlight deprived as we head through Fall and Winter. Every year, I know that the dark months are coming, but I often don't prepare. This year, I'm not going to let the blahs catch me off guard and am going to use this article as a guide to alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.

For the past year, I've been on a mission of minimalism. This doesn't mean I'm getting rid of every article of clothing, books, CDs, DVDs, accessory in our house but it does mean I'm working harder to eliminate the clutter. I've been giving my cache of clothing a hard look and then doing my best to get rid of what doesn't fit and what I'm not wearing. The upside is that I've made some cash off of the items that were in better shape that I took to a local consignment shop. I've also cleared out enough items that I will be able to get rid of a clothes rack in the back room that I affectionately refer to as my "walk-in closet." Don't think this has lessened my shoe shopping habits, but I've made myself think very hard about what I had and how much use I would get out of what I wanted to buy.

We also made additional monies when we had a garage sale last month where we did our best to sell off more items I had cleared out. It's an on-going process, but slowly I'm seeing corners of rooms that I hadn't before. I now have this luxury of trying to decide how I want to revamp my "walk in closet" in terms of whether to make it my closet and a library, or leave it a blank canvas.

Going from the house we live in to the body I'm housed inside of, I started thinking about food and diet from a "Well, I want to look good for (fill in random trip/event/happening)" stand point. Instead of thinking, "I want to lose 5 pounds" it's more of a "I want to look good when I go to our friend Meg's wedding reception so I will feel better if I go to Zumba tonight and I don't eat that cannolli that looks really good in the display case at Jones Bakery." I'm not totally depriving myself or ignoring my body when it's telling me to rest, which is important given that my schedule sometimes does mess with when I can exercise or do a sit down meal with Matt. It's some of the same thinking as when I consider whether I need to hold onto a physical item, "Do I need to put this in my body? Will I feel better or worse for eating or drinking this? Is it worth it?" I'm also considering giving meditation a permanent spot in my schedule since I rather enjoyed a session at local Yoga studio that I attended two Sundays ago.

Do I think I'll completely avoid the blahs? Probably not, but I'm hoping to not get stuck in them for long periods too.