Blue Monday...on Wednesday

This past Monday, the 3rd Monday in January, has been dubbed "Blue Monday". According to Wikipedia, that designation is based on several factors,  including:  weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our New Year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling the need to take action.

I didn't notice it on Monday but I'm feeling it today. I don't know if I'd describe it as "blue", exactly, but I'm definitely feeling varying degrees of all of the indicators set out above.

The weather is cold, cold, cold and the immediate forecast is for more of the same, only colder.  Brrr.  My debt level is manageable but I'm having to say no to things that I'd like to do in order to stay on track with my finances and even though I know that is a good thing, it's disappointing not to be able to take part in these activities that sound so appealing.  Time since Christmas? I guess they mean the vacation days, the fact that we've got to wait until mid-February for our next long weekend.  Time since failing our New Year's resolutions? Low motivation? I'm happy to report I haven't failed at any of my goals for this year yet and I hope not to as time goes on but I certainly wasn't feeling at all motivated to work out tonight.  After being out of the office for the past two days on a course, I worked late doing a little catch-up and I was more ready for dinner by the time I got home than I was for something aerobic.  But I'm not going to feel too guilty about that choice, tomorrow is another day and I will definitely work out then.

I do feel the need to take action.  I haven't been able to figure out exactly what action it is that I should be taking though, so that might be a problem eventually, but in the short term, I'm going to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, try to stay focused on working towards my goals and not expect everything to change overnight.  

Blue has always been one of my favourite colours, so feeling blue in January can't be all bad.  For the rest of this month, when I think blue, I'll think of this "blue" tree photo, which I took out my bedroom window recently after a snowfall.  I haven't coloured this picture, that's exactly how it turned out.  It was late in the day, just before darkness fell, and I love the soft blue tones that resulted.  I might even have to try to recreate the image with paint!