Does this ever happen to you? You get stuck in a "funk" - where you just don't feel like yourself. You feel exhausted, moody, grumpy, frustrated, irritated with things beyond your control (and even ones in your control), and totally unmotivated to get anything done - even the things you really love (and most especially the things you dread doing)? I guess in general a "funk" would be described as being kind of depressed.
Anyway, I seem to get into a "funk" every spring. I was telling Cory last night that I remember having a HORRIBLE spring when I was in 2nd grade - when I was 7. I got in a HUGE fight with all my friends for like the whole spring. It was horrible...and so began my dread of spring and my dreadful annual spring "funk".
Now I LOVE spring weather, spring flowers, spring clothes - getting out the capri's and flip-flops. I love that we can start playing outside, blowing bubbles, SUN....but for some reason when this time of year comes around, I end up just wanting to stay in my pj's and go to sleep.
It's not as bad when the weather is fabulous - but when the weather gets crummy again after being fabulous...that really gets me down. For instance our weather this week - windy, cold, gloomy, rainy, SNOWY! We even ran down to St. George last night to get some stuff for our new bathroom, and it was cold down there! That's not supposed to happen.
Anyway - pregnancy hormones (which I blame everything on) make this even worse. Add to it pregnancy exhaustion - and I'm just kind of a wreck.
So my question for you all is what do you do when you're in a "funk" - how do you get out? Do you eat? Sleep? Count your blessings? Grin and bear it? I'd love to hear your advice - I'm all out :)
6 comments:
sounds like your "funk" might just be a nine month deal. You can at least blame it on that.
I haven't had time for a spring funk this year, because we never had a winter yet... it's just been rainy and hot.
We sure love you-
-Jed
Joanna,
I go for a good run. Then I unplug the phone and sleep until I can't sleep anymore, then I eat some sugar. Real healthy, huh? ;)
Hope you feel better soon.
Rachel
Joanna, THe most reliable thing is to get some exercise OUTSIDE, if I can make myself do it, which I sometimes can't. Sometimes a bath helps. Sometimes a good cry helps. Sometimes I get a good escape book and read. Sometimes I get myself involved in some physical project where I do or make something. Playing my favorite music and dancing around. Counting my blessings Those are the productive ones--anything that gets me moving--physically or metaphorically.
The ones that don't work so well (though that's always what I think of first, tenth, and fiftyeth)are eating sugar ; watching TV; whining; doing nothing
Good luck. And remember that you are well loved.
hmmm...These are the times that call for a good cleaning or de-junking session at my house. Seriously, I get more done when I'm in a bad mood. And if your home is already perfectly clean, I'd be glad to provide my home to you until you feel better! :o)
Unfortunately, I grin (more like frown) and bear it because like you mentioned, the weather is out of my control and I just figure there has to be a good day out of all the bad ones!! I remember a couple years ago in June, it rained all but like 5 days the whole month!! Talk about depressing and stir crazy!! But once the sun did come out and it was extremely hot and humid, I was wishing for those rainy days! LOL...the grass is always greener (or browner) on the other side!!
Well, you know in our family, we always had a tough time in the spring. Grandma Marilyn always tied it to her father dying in March, when she was a girl, and that anniversary always sets her back and thus, it was passed to her daughters and we all have a deep funk in the spring, too.
Since none of us ever even knew Great Grandpa Walker, it sounds silly that we would continue that tradition, but it has been proven that it is not only possible, but happens to people all the time.
Also, there is a medical condition called Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder - and it is just what it sounds like. Instead of getting the SAD that comes with the onset of winter, there is a reverse condition that comes in the spring. It has something to do with the increase of daylight and being outside more. My doctor is a specialist in treating it and was actually one of the doctors who discovered it.
So, for instance, I get more depressed in the winter without all the light, I also feel cosier and safer inside, where I can control how big the sky is and what goes on in my world (inside). When spring comes, everything outside is so big and so light and so unpredictable....will we go to the ocean or to the river or to town or out in the garden....the sky is so big and everything is so unsure. so I always have a major major funk in the spring. I have other personal anniversaries of sadness that come in the spring and I know I have passed them on to my children, along with my mother's sadness.
It is the same thing mental health professionals find in their clients at the holidays. The world keeps saying, you should be happy and excited and inside, you feel just the same, or maybe a little more tired or anxious than before and the contrast between what society says we should feel and what we really feel is so great that it feels like a giant chasm that we can't bridge.
So what I do, is take very good care of myself... take my vitamins..make some quiet, indoor time to watch old movies...take my anti-depressants when I need to and baby myself whenever possible and then just wait. The good things of spring will overcome the funk.... It is an undeniable scientific fact - spring will eventually make you feel better. We love you and understand what you are going thru completely. LOVE< Aunt charlotte
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