After last week's debacle, the level of confidence in myself has wavered considerably. But I think I have it figured out: we've hit the dead of winter in the Midwest, and I'm cold. All the damn time. To be fair, my advancing age could have something to do with both my lack of memory and less "brown fat" to keep me warm (look it up...it's a real thing). But as far as having a pretty decent case of writer's block, I know the cold weather has everything to do with it.
Like many people in the Midwest, I suffer from seasonal depression. In Southern Minnesota, it gets so miserably cold (today we're experiencing wind chills as low as 35 below) that the moisture in your nose crystalizes and your fingertips and toes sometimes become numb nearly the instant you step outside. I've started wearing leggings underneath my jeans so I can tolerate it a little better, and I make my husband light the fireplace almost every single night. As I write this in my office, I'm wearing said leggings under jeans with a blanket on my lap, thick slippers (I recently had to upgrade because my last pair weren't warm enough), and a space heater right underneath my bum on full blast. I'm telling you, people (and by "people" I'm specifically addressing my friend in Australia who doesn't understand this kind of weather), it's freaking COLD. In addition to the never-ending chill, it becomes dark early and the roads are often perilous, making it harder to meet up with friends and maintain any kind of social life when you live on an acreage in the middle of nowhere. In a nutshell, winter sucks when you don't enjoy the cold.
I've decided to try Vitamin D supplements and light therapy. My husband and I have plans to escape to the warm South soon so I can have my therapeutic beach time and soak up some much needed (natural) Vitamin D. Until then, unless we hit 30 degrees again, it will take nothing short of a dire emergency to convince me to leave the house.
