Winter Blahs

Oh, winter. It's beautiful... for the first month or so. It's a lovely change from the heat of summer, an entirely different feel from any other time of the year. There's anticipation, the old year is dying, the new one waiting to be born, it's a time of renewal.

Unfortunately for school, it's also a time of pent up energy and restlessness. All the things that were so fun and engaging in September are boring. And useless. And ugh. Getting our days underway was so easy at the beginning of the year. Everything went smoothly, easily, school was something fun.  Then the winter came, and the days look gloomy, and school isn't new anymore, and the things that were so much fun before are just dragging now.



Depressingly, that attitude seems to be societally pervasive - Mad Natter is feeling it, I'm feeling it, even Skeeve is feeling it. Everyone around us seems to be feeling it as well. It's almost as if we all just want to hibernate until spring. I keep meaning to schedule a break for winter this year, but I also keep forgetting to do it. Then, I think I'm also kind of afraid that we'll never get started again.  The middle of winter seems to be the primary time for that sort of thing.

I've been working on combating my own blahs planning for next year. Languages, English, reading, maths, science... All those fun things, all the bright, shiny new books, things to do and see and change and sure enough, it's like the puppy distracted by the squirrel.  It distracts me from my blahs, and I tend to get a little bit of a boost out of it. Happily, this is precisely the time for that planning - my curricular purchases begin in February and March.

The harder part, though, is trying to get that boost to carry over to Mad Natter and to Skeeve - it's awfully hard to be the sole cheery factor in the house.  But, as usual, this too shall pass. We'll see spring soon - maybe a month or two - and with spring comes a certain amount of refreshing and renewal, and then we're on our way to the end of the year, and we're able to keep moving.

You just have to get past the winter blahs. Everyone gets 'em, it's just a matter of time to get through 'em.