OMG – the weather this week!
Here in the DC suburbs, a miserable combination of sleet, ice, and freezing temperatures kept most of us inside all week. Compared to other parts of the country, we were grateful to be warm and dry and have everything we needed, but it still felt very much like Brian Gordon’s FowlLanguageComics.com comic depicting The Two Stages of Winter:
1) December – A magical wonderland of lights!
2) January through Spring – A cold, gray, bucket of suck.
With nothing new or fun on the horizon, no particularly tasty meals planned, and nothing really novel in the house to look forward to, that gray, heartless sky took over my soul.
BLEAH.
I didn’t feel like doing ANYTHING.
I warned my husband that I was feeling totally “meh,” and he knew to give me some space and let me be. And it was fine … what needed to get done last week got done (barely).
Finally, after wallowing in my “bucket of suck” for most of the week, I wanted to be out of it more than I wanted to hide and stay in it. I still felt crappy (a lot like the signs of burnout below), but I knew that the more I ate poorly, overslept, zoned out, and let things pile up, the more my downward spiral would keep a hold on me.
If you’ve been feeling this way, too, I hope you know you’re not alone.
To try to help, I’ve got 2 things in this email to help you end the month on an upswing.
If neither of these seems like enough and you want other ideas, PLEASE reply to this email or feel free to book a 60 Minutes to Solutions Session and I’ll do my best to get you connected to other coaches, support groups, mental health professionals, websites, or other resources that will better support your needs.
#1: “BUCKET OF SUCK” PEP TALK
I hope you know that EVERYONE deserves a shiny gold medal for getting through the last 11 months — making their way through an unprecedented period of history — whether you feel you did “enough” or not.
We’ve (almost) made it through the first two months of 2021, and there’s hope on the horizon for more child care/schooling options, safety, socialization, and travel in the near future.
So take a deep breath with me, and repeat the following:
- I am here.
- I am doing the best I can.
- I have plenty of time to smooth out the rougher edges of my life as I get more support in the months to come.
- For now, I just need to stay in the game.
#2: A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEFINING PRODUCTIVITY
I recently revisited a guest blog I wrote last summer, and despite the circumstances being a little outdated, the “4 P’s” I wrote about still hold up VERY well when it comes to “Feeling Productive During the Pandemic.” Check it out for 4 guidelines you can use to reconsider your situation right now and reframe your expectations in a more manageable way.
Make sure you don’t burn out this winter — brighter days are coming! In the meanwhile, let me help you bridge this difficult time.
However you wrap up your February, I’m wishing you good health, contentment, and hope for easier months ahead.
