Seasonal Psychobabble

Long month, that January.  Long in every way from how long until you have to fill up the fuel tank(blessedly cheaper this year) to how long the dark skies encroach on outdoor activity, to how long until all the holiday bills and the tax forms come in the mail – but we know they are coming.  All the good movies have come and gone, and the exciting sports are almost all over.

Why, we have to ask, do so many people go off their personal deep ends at this time of year?  Relationship breakups (personal and business), abandonment of friends and family, emotional outbursts in public and private.  You would think that since it happens every year we would expect winter craziness and learn to deal with it. Personally, I do not have the tools, the stomach (I turn off the radio when Dan Gottlieb comes on), or the desire to help friends and colleagues with emotional rollercoasters.

Of course the pop literature tells us about seasonal affective disorder (ironically called S.A.D.).  And I am sure the taverns (and breweries) are loaded with slump shouldered customers self-medicating and agreeing that it is only because of the syndrome. Not out here in the country.  There is still too much work to do. 

Finishing up the cleanup of trees from last winter’s storm.  Fixing the stuff that you never got to.  Writing the assignments that were always sent to the bottom of the pile. Even a bit of indoor painting when and if yo turn the heat up. This is what we do for our therapy. Don’t pity the humans who wallow in their own problems – feel sorry for the animals who cannot enjoy the outdoors in the severe weather.

Anyway, all the seed catalogs come this week.