Chasing away the blues

Thanks to everyone who wrote nice comments to yesterday's post. I really appreciate the support I get from this blogging community.

As a reminder to myself, here is a list of the things that ward off the February blues (and February migraines as well ... I get more migraines during February than any other month). Feel free to add your own ideas.

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Getting enough sleep every night! Eating healthy!

Any kind of outdoor activity. Downhill skiing on Sundays. Cross-country skiing through the forest. Ice skating at the rink downtown. Snowshoeing. Shoveling snow in the moonlight. Hiking in the woods behind my house. Anything that puts me outside in the fresh air, no matter how cold it is.

Dates with friends. Plantswoman and I are planning to meet for breakfast at least once during February. PoetWoman and I are going to meet for lunch. I've promised LongBeautifulHair that I would call her and go for a walk together or something. QuiltArtist and I have a date to go hear a storyteller. I have a bunch of women friends who sometime go out together in the evening but it's hard to set up in February because it too often gets cancelled because of weather. I've lived in this area my whole life so I have friends here; it's just making the time to see them that is the problem. I am going to make the effort during February to make the time.

Connecting to out-of-town friends. Phone calls! My life is so crazy that I actually have to e-mail out-of-town friends so that we can set up a phone call. But it is so worth it. A long rambling phone call when I am feeling blue can change my whole mood. Long rambling e-mails to friends help too. ArtistFriend will listen to me talk for hours; he will patiently read the longest, most whining e-mail and write back something funny to make me laugh. I don't know what I'd do without him. And hey, I think I am going to add long rambling blogging to this category. I think my blogging friends count as out-of-town friends: maybe I'll start coming up with pseudonyms for all of you. Maybe some day in February, I'll break my one-post-per-day rule and spend the whole day writing posts! A self-indulgent blogging marathon.

Let's see, what else? A fire in the fireplace. Hot tea and dark chocolate. Reading for pleasure. Maybe even some of the Betsy-Tacy books. Writing poetry. Meditation or reiki. Massage. Saturday night dates with Spouse. Belly Dancing. Lying naked in the sunshine that comes through the south window when the kids aren't home. Taking the time to read to and snuggle With-a-Why. Friday lunches with Daughter. Reading in the bathtub. Taking time to do some pastels while listening to my favorite music. Chopping up basil so that the whole kitchen smells nice. Vegan chocolate cake.