Blue Funk – Getting Motivated When You Feel Down
November 27, 2009
For the last few days I’ve been waking up in a blue funk. I feel down on myself, unmotivated, headachey, and tired. All I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep the day away. I live on the west coast of Canada, and this time of year is the worst because you have overcast dreary rainy days for weeks on end. It has a name… Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). And it affects many Canadians every year. Time to get my full spectrum lamp out…
So what do you do when you’re feeling down in the dumps and unmotivated?
Yesterday was rough. I woke up with a dull throbbing headache that wouldn’t leave. I had a simple client project to do that should have been done easily in under 2 hours. Instead, I spent literally 12 hours fighting with the program I was using, my computer freezing and locking down constantly. Around dinner time I finally decided to just turn it off and walk away. Take a break. Concentrate on something else.
I made a big pot of Chickpea Chili. I watched X-Weighted on Slice. I snuggled with my family.
The headache didn’t leave.
The program still wouldn’t work.
But around 10 PM I was more relaxed and ready to tackle the software issue with renewed vigor. I uninstalled the program, ran a virus check, reinstalled the program, and managed to get the draft ready to send to my client without smashing my laptop on the wall.
The program is still not working the way it should. I still have a headache. But I got it done anyways.
Today the sun is shining, but I hear it isn’t going to last. I’m going to spend some time in my south facing sunny garden before I pick my son up from school. The comfrey needs to be cut back, and a lavender plant needs to be transplanted. I have bags of leaves that need to be emptied on the new lasagna beds.
At 2 PM I am going to volunteer at our local food bank. Take the focus off myself and get out of the house to do something worthwhile in the community.
Hopefully I can shake the blues and get back to my usual happy optomistic motivated self.
