How I'm Beating the Winter Blues

I've lived in the mountains of Maryland on and off since I was a teen, but I was raised prior to that in the balmy, humid, often stifling heat of Florida. My mom was a "go outside" kind of parent, and I don't remember having very many limitations on my radius. I was pretty feral, running free around the various grounds of whatever apartments in which we lived, usually with a cousin in tow, from sun-up until dinner in the height of summer, or from the moment we stepped off of the bus during the school year. We played in woods and creeks around our complexes, climbed every tree, swung on vines, and made forts out of fallen or broken palm branches. We skated inside tennis courts, swam at the pool if the complex had one, and raced each other on bikes, trying to hit the speedbumps just right to catch some air and a tickle in the belly. I always wore a hat because I'd read this book where my favorite female character always wore one, thus I always had that crazy white zigzag across the front of it because I was never not sweating. I believe with all that time outside in the Florida heat, my cells have forever been coded to prefer it. We'll ignore the fact that I have to find the nearest shade as quickly as possible every time I go visit now, ahem.

My point is, it doesn't matter how long I've lived in an area of the world that decides winter needs to start in fall and finish in spring. I cannot get used to being cold and seeing mainly grey and white day after day. I get the winter doldrums every year. Today, as I write this, it's 4pm and I'm still in the sweats in which I slept. I meant to get dressed, but by the time I'd finally decided to do it, it was so late that it didn't make sense. I have indulged in too much tv at night, scrolled too much on my phone, read a little too much of the news, and exercised zilch, even though I know that bundling up and going for walks would be good for me.

All that being said, I am actually not depressed. I'm just cozy. Mentally, I'm fairly steady state, and even optimistic most days. There is enough pain and horror right now all over the world to obsess about, but I deal with that by talking to God, helping where I can, and holding onto my compassion and kindness at all costs. The major thing that's different this year, the thing that keeps my serotonin flowin', is creating, or setting the stage to keep creating. I'm keeping my eyes forward and putting things in place that are naturally driving me into that studio every day.

Today, I finished drawing 30 faces in 30 days, and I am positive that those couple of hours spent every day in that kind of focus and mental state has had incredible benefits. Instead of taking away from other art, it actually increased my productivity in so many areas. I've felt driven all month. On top of being a rockstar (per usual) in my day job, I've launched my print shop, gotten business insurance, applied to spring art fairs, submitted to contests, and have started on a new collection of paintings. And the upcoming art fairs will be a natural driver for me to keep finding my way down to my studio. Another huge help has been in the form of writing my morning pages (from The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron). Every day I work through my ideas, struggles, and self-doubt right on a legal pad. It takes about a half-hour, but it has produced a treasure trove of insights that I know I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Anyway, if you have a tendency towards Seasonal Affective Disorder, or are just getting down about stuff in the world, even if you don't consider yourself an artist, I hope this inspires you just a smidge. You don't need to be an artist to benefit from the same things I've been doing. Draw a little and write a little each day. Commit to doing it for a couple of weeks and see what you think. You don't need anything fancy - just a pencil and pad. Look around and draw a thing from observation. Take a pad and write, free association, for two to three pages. I personally focus on art because it's the area in which I want to spark ideas, but you could write about anything. I would caution against allowing it to turn into a gripe session though. The first time I tried morning pages years ago, I spiraled and put myself in a bad mood all the time because my free associations became complaining. I'm not a Pollyanna while I'm writing - I just don't allow myself to fall into venting. If you decide to give either or both things a try, I'd love to hear about it. What other tips do you have to keep your spirits up? And if you say exercise, I'm going to need you to really work to inspire me - good luck.