The Obligatory Winter Blues Post

Every year I find myself writing about the winter blues — what I’m doing to cope, how well it’s working (or not). And why should this year be any exception? 😉

This year hasn’t been too bad so far. For starters, we’re having a really mild winter with almost no snow. Amazing what that does for one’s state of mind. Don’t get me wrong, I like snow, especially the proper crunchy snow that I grew up with and Toronto so rarely gets, but months of it will drag one down. And the cold, and the dark, and the post-Christmas, post-New Year’s letdown…okay, winter is still tough even without snow.

I’m doing all the usual things — taking extra Vitamin D, using a full-spectrum lamp, exercising (dance and yoga, with some walking here and there), focusing on coziness (blankets, slippers, tea, soup, comfort reads).

This year I’ve also added a couple of new things. First up, my latest creative outlet — Instagram.

#savouringjanuary move: on the streetcar, heading home. Black-and-white filter because why not.

A photo posted by Siri Paulson (@siripaulson) on

I  finally joined Instagram last summer so I could post pictures of my garden, but when the harvest was over, my account sat idle. Then in early December I noticed a friend doing a daily photo challenge, #decemberreflections. I jumped in and enjoyed it so much that I joined a second challenge this month, #savouringjanuary.

I haven’t been quite as diligent in this second round, but it’s been a lot of fun looking for subjects to match the daily prompts, and seeing the wide variety of ways in which everyone else has interpreted them. (Click on the hashtag in the photo caption to see for yourself.) What I love about photography is that I’m not trying to be a professional — I’m just playing around with a creative outlet.

I’m also pushing myself to be a little more social. My natural introvert tendencies go into overdrive during the winter (whaddya mean I can’t hibernate until spring?). But visiting my hometown over Christmas reminded me that I really do like hanging out with people besides my husband.

So I made a friend-date to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 3D (completely worth it, by the way). I went out for a board-game evening. And I’ve still got more people on my list of folks to hang out and catch up with. (If you’re reading this and think it might be you, it is — drop me a line!)

Finally, I’ve been working on the novel that Kit and I are co-writing. (More about that in future!) It’s out with an editor and some beta readers at the moment, but it’ll be back in our court very shortly. That comes with its own roller-coaster of emotions, to be sure, but writing still beats not writing.

Even in winter.

 

4 Comments:

  1. How’s that work? I’m such a kludge, I haven’t learned how to properly use Instagram. Or Tumblr. >_>

  2. How does what work? The photo challenge, or the filter, or…?

  3. The photo challenge, sorry.

  4. Oh! Somebody comes up with a challenge and posts a picture of it on Instagram, like this: https://thegreengables.co.uk/store/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SavouringJanuary.jpeg Then everyone who wants to participate can tag their photos with the appropriate hashtag, and see all the other photos on the hashtag, just like on Twitter. The two I’ve participated in so far, I discovered because someone I was following joined in.

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