Taking a Break from Serious Stuff



Clean Refridgerator - Just Like New



I'm taking a mental break from the very important, serious, controversial stuff going on all around me with Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget repair bill to say that I accomplished something very important. Something long overdue. I cleaned my refridgerator. I will spare you a "before" picture -- just trust me -- this cleaning was badly needed.

Although I didn't specifically articulate this as a goal in my previous post about goals--this dirty, rotten, stinking refridgerator has been vexing me for quite some time.

Every time I opened that stinking refridgerator I was increasingly annoyed. Crumbs. Stains from old food spills. Shelves filled with expired condiments. Dirt in the produce drawers. This was utterly unacceptable!

I procrastinated on this because I was overwhelmed. Until I decided it was ok to complete this project over several weekends. This became a multi-weekend project. I tackled the expired jars of condiments and the resulting recycling avalanche on a few previous Saturdays. This past weekend I removed every shelf and drawer and piece of glass and washed every last crevice.

Then, I put all of our food back in and re-organized everything. No more half-eaten cardboard circles of frozen pizza, I told my husband. He agreed. It was dirty, and it sure looks good now.

Having done this, I'm now much more motivated to eat healthy. I can actually see and find everything we have and I feel much more in control of our food situation. I feel clean. I love feeling clean. I feel like I can accomplish another goal, should I set one.

And that reminds me...goals. I finished my KSurf writing class, three days prior to my deadline. I have a non-fiction book and a novel roughly scratched out in my head. I just can't decide which form to tell my story in. That's another post.

Also, spring is almost here...we've had a few days of 40-degree weather, and I've been out walking every day. I finished Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" and loved it. I saw the movie Sanctum (it was ok) and made muffins. Hello goals and good bye winter funk!

How To Beat Your Winter Funk

For weeks I’ve been completely unmotivated. It happens to me every January. The weeks of sub-zero temperatures wear me down. Eventually I find myself on the couch every night, watching way too much of my favorite programs, like TrueBlood or Dexter or Californication or whatever I can get my hands on.

I haven’t even cooked an actual dinner in weeks. I don’t feel like eating…nothing sounds good…I have no motivation to prepare anything. It is the time of year when I fall into my most unhealthy habits, and I feel like everything I love doing so much, like having a garden, canning/preserving food, cooking, eating healthy, exercising, is all so far out of reach.

How can I break out of this funk?

We all know the common things that we should be doing….exercise, get eight hours of sleep, eat vegetables, meditate, whatever. I know what I should be doing, I just don’t do it. It’s dark all the time. It’s cold. I’m always tired. And cold. I go home and put my pajamas on.

One night this week I did manage to pick up the book I’m reading, The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion (which, by the way, I am enjoying quite a bit…her story is about grief and hope and strength and reminds me of my experience with my mother and her stroke) instead of turning on the TV. I guess that is one step in the right direction.

How do you get out of your funk?

I’m reminded of a post this week on my friend’s blog, Fat Girl Fed Up, about setting goals. Maybe that is what I need to do. A weekly goal for blog posts. A weekly goal for reading. A weekly goal for the draft of my novel……I am going to start small so I don’t get overwhelmed, and then keep setting goals. Notice I am mixing business and pleasure for motivational purposes……..

Starter Goals:

• Make healthy Pumpkin muffins for our “breakfast theme” Superbowl party
• See a movie (I am REALLY intrigued by the preview for Sanctum)
• Finish KSurf Fiction Writing workshop assignments by 2/14. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. This weekend, catch up on lessons
• Finish my office…l’ll post some pictures in an upcoming post…finishing my own personal writing space is related to my writing goals!
• Finish “The Year of Magical Thinking” by the end of February and start a new book
• Paint my bedroom by the end of February