How I Manage to Combat Seasonal Depression and Winter Blues

Coming off the heels of a 30 day respiratory illness and a two week period of a cold arctic vortex with temps at freezing or below, I found myself struggling to feel normal. The days were blustery, cold, and dreary. I wanted to embrace the “cozy” I’d looked forward to all year, and the indoor productivity that has called me for so long. But I found myself without motivation and not wanting to do anything. And for me, that just felt wrong. It was a huge flag. So in this very chatty vlog, I share all the ways I quickly pulled out of it. I hope it helps you too. You can watch it HERE.

Review of Last Week

Life has been busy this past week. Got Mom’s property tax discount vouchers settled after a back and forth with the county. Both city and county taxes are paid. One on line and the other by check. Also our Texas trip is booked and planned. I edited two VERY long videos this week, fought with the Mac, and waited patiently as the video uploaded from about noon yesterday to about 9 p.m yesterday evening. I stayed up past my bedtime to make sure all was well, thumbnail done and video scheduled for 7 a.m. this morning. Something needs to change. The Mac and our internet is horrible these days. Everything is slow and non-conforming to my needs. In this day and time, that ought not to be.

We went to Hendersonville this week to rollover my 401k to my IRA. Our financial advisor is in Hendersonville, so we had a nice day over there and went to some discount stores and thrift stores. I bought a few things. It’ll be in an upcoming vlog (my little haul).

I also went over to Mom’s to vacuum and do her floors, including moving her recliners around and vacuuming under and around her chair where she sits (and eats) all day. The hard part is cleaning things off the floor in order to vacuum as she had dropped a lot of things. Anyway, that was a job. The next effort is to go and clean her cabinets, which have gross drippings and such on them; clean her mirrors; and clean her stainless steel appliance surfaces in the kitchen. But it won’t be this week as she has a doc appt. Between YouTube, her stuff, my 401k, her finances and needs, booking our TX trip, I have found myself a little stressed in what should be a relaxing time. In addition, I began cooking a little more and was trying to get that done while fighting at the same time with the Mac so I could get my video done.

Once again I’m miffed because I didn’t get to the puzzle, lol. Or Hemming my PJ’s I’ve wanted to do for 2 years. Haaaa! So it’s all good. At least I’m retired and not trying to do all this stuff while I’m trying to work. Not working free’d up about 50 hours a week for me (work and commute) and I’m filling up my schedule like I have 80 more hours in my schedule, as opposed to 50. I just want to do it all right now.

Retirement Schedule so far:

What I’ve really increased so much in the week of retirement is:

• Two videos a week instead of one.
• More vlogging during the week.
• Doing laundry during the week 1-2 loads per day.
• Maintaining a “cleaner and picked up” house.
• Exercising daily.
• Doing extra project(s) daily
• Reading
• Watching shows
• Enjoying morning coffee and planning my day
• Taking more time in the kitchen to make good meals
• Making efforts to help in the kitchen or clean it
• Weekly excursions with George to do “whatever”
• More time at Mom’s doing a cleaning chore or whatever she needs

So it all booked up pretty quickly but you know me, I’m always wanting to get more done. It just takes a long time to do everything! But all is fine. I’m just doing what I can and like always, rolling forward what I didn’t get done. I am stopping to smell the roses though and it’s important that I get in my relax time and reading and then I feel rewarded.

Things that Made Me Sad this Week:

• The plane crash
• The egg shortage

Ok off to get on with our busy day. We are going to the store to get stuff for our salad which we are taking to Life Group. My plan is to come home, make the salad, then dust, and put our spring decor out, and then work on Notion and planning the week for next week.

Next week: I know I’m getting my toes done, have two videos to edit and upload, meeting my sister for dinner, Mom’s doc appointment and then I’ll try to get some projects completed in between.

So off to get the busy day done. You can watch the video HERE.