How Bad is Your Cabin Fever this Weekend?
cab·in fe·ver
Noun NORTH AMERICANinformal
- irritability, listlessness, and similar symptoms resulting from long confinement or isolation indoors during the winter.
This winter sucks! Bad weather, horrible cold and flu season, the depressing 24 hour news cycle, even the boost from the Olympics doesn’t last very long- other people’s exercise and triumphs can get irritating too.
Remember that it isn’t just your family- the people at Target, the guys are work, our kids’ teachers, your therapist… all have been cooped up too long. We have an environmental illness.
Do a quick check up. Feelings are fascinating. Can you name yours? What are you up against? What makes you uncomfortable? What are you resisting?
Are you irritable? Do you hate EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE? Do the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when things aren’t going your way?
Are you listless? Unmotivated? Flat? Does it feel like nothing would make you happy so why try? Do you know damn well what you should be doing right now and not doing any of it?
Are you resentful? Do you wish you had better parents, the kind with a Hawaiian timeshare? Do you secretly hope it rains all week your neighbors are in Florida? Are you wishing you’d never taken this reliable stable job that keeps a roof over your head…but not much more?
Are you BORED? Are you tired of all the things? How does bored show up in your life?
Some stuff that might help.
Mostly it is all stuff you already know and don’t want to do.
Vitamin D deficiency feels achy and tired and blue. Always a good place to start checking.
SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder (sleepiness-carbohydrate craving-difficulty with concentration -depressed mood- anxiety- irritability- weight gain- lethargy- decreased libido and hyperphagia (increased consumption of food) responds best to light therapy, psychotherapy and sometimes medications are recommended. Here’s the light box I love- http://amzn.to/2oliE8H Feeling dangerously blue? Please reach out. You know I love playing therapist matchmaker.
Create! Paint…walls, canvas, furniture, your face, your hair. Bring more color! Spring fever often gets our creative juices flowing… give them a boost. Dig out the supplies that are hiding in the basement.
Hawaii… or the Caribbean or Mexico or a stay-cation. Down time, fun, newness, people. Get out of your comfort zone. Go anywhere! Talk to people. See things. Try new foods. Go to a museum.
Circle the wagons- when we’re irritable we tend to isolate when what we need most is community. I know they might give you crud or you might hurt someone’s feelings but isolation isn’t helping. Invite some people over. Make people soup. Go for coffee or beer. Reach out. Do your community service. Check in with the people around you? Who needs you right now? How can you have a bigger impact?
I know you don’t want to hear this but exercise now. Don’t wait for spring. Stretch out. Break a sweat. Take a class. Play. Run. This is what you need the most and may feel like the worst idea. Have faith that spring is coming.
Have sex! Sex is a great way to connect to your inner warmth. Make a hot date with your sweetheart. Kiss long and hard. Make your kids just a little uncomfortable. What says spring more than that?
It will come… what are you going to do while you wait?
Maureen