Working hard

[marykaykare]

The weather for the past 10 days has been phenomenal for Seattle. Every day has had large amounts of sunshine. It's been colder than I like, but even that is starting to ease a little. Which probably means the high pressure is going away and the clouds will come back! I've been working really hard at appreciating it

Comments

[redbird]

I don't know when it stops being an effort, but one thing I have found useful (for me, it might not be for you) was to make a rule/policy that I will go outdoors during daylight at least briefly every day unless there's a good reason not to. My "good reason" list is serious physical illness or very bad weather, i.e., blizzards and hurricanes. Making it a policy helps for me because it changes the scale of the decision, from "I suppose I should go outside" to "now or after lunch?"/"what jacket should I wear?"

I note that this is specific to my having observed that daylight is good for me (I do plan to buy some full-spectrum lights by the next equinox); I'm not sure it's adjustable for social interaction unless going to the store for a container of milk supplies useful amounts of that.

[marykaykare]

It's a very interesting & potentially useful reply. Right now I'm working on establishing an ice cream only on week-ends policy. Haagen Dazs Canilla Bean is my favorite comfort food ever. At LOT of it got eaten over the winter. I'll try to remember for the future. Thanks.

MKK

[johnpalmer]

Um. May I jump briefly into geek answer syndrome re: full spectrum lights?

[redbird]

If Mary Kay doesn't want that discussion here, I'd like to have it with you privately: email me (if you don't have an address handy, this username @ livejournal DOT com works).

[smofbabe]

Not sure how you can avoid making it feel like an effort but have you thought of committing to some minimal amount of regular volunteer work somewhere local? It would force you out of the house and give you some personal interaction.

Hang in there.

[marykaykare]

I have actually and have even looked around for something suitable. It's amazing just how many volunteer positions involve working with the public. I can and have done that but it seems less than optimal just now.

MKK

[seattle_janice]

I've been going through a lot of that lately. Give me a call

[bibliofile]

Excellent question. Don't know the answers (I suspect there's more than one, dammit). If I knew, that might make it easier. Or not, let's be blunt.

Happy sunshine, though. The extra light is cheering, even if I don't end up going out in it much.

[johnpalmer]

"When does it stop being an effort..." is my eternal question, and the answer is, sadly enough, "when I'm getting better". Which is one of those lousy answers, but it's often the only one possible.

The thing is, when I'm climbing out of the hole, if I make that push, it's more likely to become effortless (or less effortful), so I have to keep pushing to find out if I'm at the edge of the hole. If I wait until I feel better, I'll lose a year to feeling lousy.