February: The Armpit Month

Nature has made me an optimistic, think with my heart kind of gal. Throughout the year you can generally find me smiling and appreciating life. 

And then February comes. I’ve taken to calling it the armpit month because that’s what it reminds me of. The weather stinks, I’m tired of being inside, things start to get a little hairy as patience wears thin. 

I find I have to make concerted efforts to draw myself out of the depression that sneaks up on me. If I’m not careful I can take a 3 hour nap on a Saturday, go to bed early, and still be grumpy, listless and despondent the next day. 

To pull through the month I try to make an effort to step outside everyday. This may seem crazy to some of you, but I can easily go 3 days without going outside since I homeschool. Even if it’s just to walk to the mailbox and back, I am trying to get out. I may lock myself in the bathroom for 30 minutes to try a new hairstyle. If we get a warm day, school gets put on the back burner so we can energize our bodies with the sunshine. 

I try to plan something fun. We had an indoor picnic that I tried my best to enjoy. While I was cringing inwardly at the spilled popcorn I was outwardly laughing at the failed attempts to toss and catch it in our mouths. 

We shook the blanket off outside and ran the vacuum. Who knows what memories my girls will hold on to from their childhood? I hope when they look back on how their mom did with this whole parenting gig, they will recall my perseverance through the armpit of winter.