Staving off the gloom; Friday Five

Staving off the gloom; Friday Five



Sally, in the UK, is having a case of Seasonal Affective Disorder—she has the mid-winter blues! She has come up with a timely Friday Five:

Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day....

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp?
I have been cleaning house. I usually can’t get up the energy to do that when SAD comes upon me, but this year I have a young woman helping me. I actually found my hand weights. I just might do something with them….but then again…. Exercise is not really my métier.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer?
This is the time when I like making stews, shepherd pie, chili. I have found a place where they serve chicken and dumplins so all is right with the world. But I have a tendency to gain weight during the winter and I am having a harder time this year than usual. But in the Northeast we can’t get really good produce and I want something fresh besides parsnips and broccoli.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?
Oh, yeah! Too many days without sunshine and I get the mullygrubs. Being an extrovert, I find that if I get out with people it helps. Also, if I keep active—not exercising exactly but keeping busy keeps me from getting too far down in the dumps. Also if I can think of others, I am less likely to get too Eyorish.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?
When I was going through a particularly nasty time in my life, I found Karen Armstrong’s biography, The Spiral Staircase especially helpful because we had so much in common, the depression being one of them. Her heroic piecing together a life for herself when her original plans were dashed was especially appealing to me.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?
I look forward to pussywillow, snowdrops and that wonderful smell of earth that comes just before spring begins to show itself.

Sally, in the UK, is having a case of Seasonal Affective Disorder—she has the mid-winter blues! She has come up with a timely Friday Five:

Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day....

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp?
I have been cleaning house. I usually can’t get up the energy to do that when SAD comes upon me, but this year I have a young woman helping me. I actually found my hand weights. I just might do something with them….but then again…. Exercise is not really my métier.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer?
This is the time when I like making stews, shepherd pie, chili. I have found a place where they serve chicken and dumplins so all is right with the world. But I have a tendency to gain weight during the winter and I am having a harder time this year than usual. But in the Northeast we can’t get really good produce and I want something fresh besides parsnips and broccoli.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?
Oh, yeah! Too many days without sunshine and I get the mullygrubs. Being an extrovert, I find that if I get out with people it helps. Also, if I keep active—not exercising exactly but keeping busy keeps me from getting too far down in the dumps. Also if I can think of others, I am less likely to get too Eyorish.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?
When I was going through a particularly nasty time in my life, I found Karen Armstrong’s biography, The Spiral Staircase especially helpful because we had so much in common, the depression being one of them. Her heroic piecing together a life for herself when her original plans were dashed was especially appealing to me.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?
I look forward to pussywillow, snowdrops and that wonderful smell of earth that comes just before spring begins to show itself.