All Work and No Play (or Sunshine)...

Sometimes when you are waiting for rainbows there is a whooooole lotta rain to get through. In my case, it's been both metaphorical and literal this week! It has been raining nonstop for the past four days. And not hard rain, either. It's been that awful, drizzly rain that gets over everything and makes the air feel really oppressive. Of course the cat has been loving ducking in and out in the rain because she gets to be toweled off when she comes back inside. It's also the end of semester, and the end of the exam period, so I am at a loose end. All the stress came off literally in an instant after I finished my last exam on Thursday morning and I collapsed. I'm still feeling incredibly mentally frazzled. So we have the oppressive weather, my mental exhaustion and a touch of winter blues. It makes Rainbow an incredibly foul person to live with. When you start to understand what Jack Torrance was going through in "The Shining"...yeah, bad sign. Then again I think I'd go crazy being around Shelley Duvall as well.

Today thankfully is the first day of sunshine, although when the curtains were pulled back I squinted from the sheer burst of sunlight. I'm starting to think that vampires aren't vampires, they're people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder like me. As for the mood and the low energy, I have to just ride it out and fortify myself with nourishing foods instead of stodge. It's so tempting in the winter to immerse yourself in full-fat hot chocolate, creamy pasta, mashed potatoes with lashings of butter,bagels with cream cheese...or maybe that's just me. But no, I must go towards the light (literally) and nibble the foods that help support my serotonin levels instead of diminishing them. I find it exceptionally hard to keep mentally well in winter. Colds and flu don't bother me much, I can deal with those, it's mental unwellness that has me in its grip. And worse yet, if I am allowed to graduate early I am going to be at a loose end this winter, so I will have to find plenty of things to keep myself occupied. Exercise is definitely a must. Part of the reason I have been so cranky the past few days is because I desperately wanted to go for a long brisk walk through the park but couldn't. Here's hoping for a few more rain-free days.