Getting Out of a Holiday Funk

For those of you that have been following my blog, you may have noticed that when I get into a funk, I tend to not post for a while. So, it is obvious to say that lately I have been in a bit of a funk as I have not been posting. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post talking about mental health, for me, when I get into these moods, things keep adding up until I feel so overhwhelmed that I don’t even know where to start. This most recent funk has been multifactoral, as they often are. It’s been a combination of being a bit ovrerwhelmed with being busy at work, hosting the holidays (both Thanksgiving and Christmas are at my house), creating happy memories for Jack, decorating and baking my little heart out, and just still trying to keep up with life in general.

The holidays often mess up my routines; I can admittetly state that I haven’t been using my planner as often as I should, so I have not been on top of my tasks or meal planning or my wellness journey. My mental wellness definitely starts to spiral a bit when I am not on top of these things; for me, routines and schedule are really important. So while I have been stressing myself to get all these things done, I haven’t been doing it with the efficacy I think I could if I were scheduling my time and sticking to my lists and plans. All of this stress culminated in my son and I both getting tested for Covid earlier this week, and thankfully, we are both negative.

My spread for the last week of April 2022, just gotta add the date stickers.

All this to say, this week has been an exercise in pulling myself out of this funk. It is so important to recognize when you are feeling down, and it’s even more important to be able to pull yourself out of the hole. How exactly was I able to do this? First of all, I took time at the end of each day to work on my 2022 planner. While there’s not much time left for 2021 (and I’m so bummed I haven’t shared the past few weeks on IG, they were GOOD spreads!), I want everything ready to go for 2022 so I can sit and plan at the beginning of each week. For me, sitting and decorating my planner is a creative outlet as well as a relaxation technique, and over the past few evenings, I have been able to get my planner completed through April 2022!

Along with anxiety over my lack of schedule, I think I have also been having a bit of seasonal blues - I love being out in the garden and the sunshine, and the shorter days have really been getting to me. This week has been unseasonably warm for December (it is currently 63ºF in south Jersey, whereas last year on this day we were in the midst of a snowstorm!), so the past two days I have made it a point to get outside and take a walk with Jack so both of us could get some much-needed sunshine and fresh air!

To coincide with being outside, another task I have taken on is planning my garden for next year! While it might seem quite early to do so, I’m glad I’ve started looking, because my research has showed me that a few of the plants I want to grow can actually be started indoors in February, so I have to start getting my supplies together and seeds ordered so I can get them started!

Dreaming of what and where I’ll grow things next year. Planning on a full crop rotation, and got rid of some of the decorative stuff on the other side of the yard to start building raised beds :)

While these few things may seem insignificant, scheduling keeps me on track, sunshine is an important contributor to mental well-being, and my garden is my happy place and I am gearing up to get excited for another year of growing vegetables and hopefully having lots of success! Getting myself into this mindset and doing things I enjoy doing has helped me to get my mind back into a positive state where I want to be productive, which is where I like to be.

So, why am I sharing all of this with you? I am sure I am not the only person who gets themselves into a funk over this time of year, along with winter blues, seasonal affective disorder is real, and in general being stuck indoors and less sunshine can cause us to be lazy and unmotivated. I think sharing the small things I’ve done this week to help get me back into a better frame of mind can be an inspiration to others to maybe take some time out for themselves to reset and find the positive throughout the craziness of this time of year.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy remainder of your holiday season, and I look forward to continuing to share with you going into 2022!