The winter blahs have arrived. All the Christmas decorations are neatly packed away. The Christmas and birthday presents have designated resting places. The diet is chugging along. School work is being finished. All of these are great things, but I bored. My drive to get up in the morning and embrace the day is missing. What do I do now?
A dear friend has recently experienced a stressful year and thinks she has mild depression. Not the seasonal depression a lot of people get in the winter time, but an on-going loss of enthusiasm with life. She thinks that she needs to look forward to things again. Her idea makes sense. As homeschool moms, we often get caught up in the plodding along with our daily tasks. Our days seem to exist with a lot of boring repetitious tasks that will never be finished.
When I spend time painting a bedroom or laying new flooring, I feel so good about having accomplished something. Most of the things that I do each day do not provide that feeling. When the laundry is all folded and put in the drawers, it is only a matter of moments before another item needs to be washed. The dishes will never be clean for any period of time, except when we are not at home.
My idea is to try to embrace the small, yucky, tasks that no one wants to do. Instead of forcing myself to go and clean toilets, I'm searching for a way to WANT to clean them. Okay, anyone who knows me knows that THAT will never happen. I do want to make the task more fun. So today instead of cleaning the toilets while answering phonics and algebra questions, I played my iPod to fun, bouncy music while dancing around my bathroom with a scrub brush and cleaner. The cleanup only took about 20 minute and was sorta fun. My children also got a laugh when they saw mom dancing with the scrub brush.
In the hopes of bringing some excitement back to our school days, we re-instituted our "Country of the Day" studies. The children are enjoying the food and music of other places while learning a great deal in geography. Several of the children ask to do geography first each morning. I've also tried to do more crafts and art projects with them. My youngest two haven't done nearly as many fun school things as the older children. It is time to change that!
I'm planning on forcing my entire family to go on a week end letterboxing trip in June. It will be something to look forward to and should be a good time for everyone. A friend is planning on bringing her family as well, so the children will know some other children.
During the next few weeks, I hope to come up with more ways to add some joy to our lives. If anyone has any suggestions, please share your ideas.
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