Shockabuku-- An excellent way to start the New Year



The boys enjoy the snow...


I have to admit, this time of year (usually the six weeks from the beginning of January to mid-February) are my least favorite weeks of the calendar. The official diagnosis would be Seasonal Affective Disorder, but the long and the short of it is that I just freaking hate the month of January. The weather sucks. Here in our neck of the woods, we are more likely to get ice than snow during January. Whether it is ice or snow—the road crews put down ash on the roads here, instead of salt, and the whole world ends up dirty and grey. It’s always dark, and cold, and dingy, and there are no holidays to liven it up.

I always try to approach this time of year as the time when an individual (such as myself) should be looking inward, looking towards new goals, making plans for the year that is spread out smooth, ready, waiting, before them. Except, when I look inward—especially at this time of year, I tend to start feeling whiny. Inadequate. Lethargic.

Perhaps humans were meant to hibernate after all. Wouldn’t that be nice? From New Years to Valentines, we could all just hole up, nice and cozy, and sleep the bleak gray days away.

If I had no job or children to worry about, I would be one of those persons who travel during these weeks. A snowbird; perhaps one of the European cruisers, etc. If I wasn’t traveling, I would write a novel, or undertake some other creative endeavor that would more than fill those bleak hours.

I do have a job and children to look after, however, so there’s no chance of running away from my pitiable mood. I am just going to have to find a way to change it.

This year, I have received a shockabuku. (What is a shockabuku? Why, it’s a swift spiritual kick to the head! Don't believe me? Urban Dictionary it! If you’ve never watched Grosse Point Blank, I suggest you do so, just for that part alone.) My Shockabuku? It’s called perspective. I look around at all of things currently occurring to those I know, and some I only know by association (tornados, for one—sheesh! Tornados all over the state at the end of December?) and I realize that I just need to suck it up and deal.

Seriously. Unless I am dealing with losing a loved one, or having to rebuild my home, or the ramifications of any other major thing along these lines, I am just going to quit my whining, and keep moving forward.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but perhaps this one is resolution worthy: just suck it up and deal with it. Yeah, I think that’s it. I think that’s what I will do in the first part of 2011.