When Winter Saps Creativity

It's almost 9 am, and it is still only -9 degrees outside. I'm back in bed with the laptop to write, under a big fluffy comforter. I'm dreading going out for my personal training session at eleven. I haven't been to the gym in over a week, I've haven't been hardly anywhere in over a week. It's the middle of February and my patience with winter and inhuman temperatures is getting to me.

This is the absolute worst time of the year for me. I don't think it's just me either - you can feel it when you go out. There's a humming vibe of cranky energy at the stores - kids are cranky because they've been cooped up too long - parents are cranky for the same reason! People are tired of the cold stealing their breath as they get out of their cars to walk twenty feet to a doorway! These are definitely the days when my heart aches for Hawaii.

I'm trying very hard to be patient for thaw I know is just around the corner. Part of the reason I still live in this part of the US. Spring, summer and fall seem nearly magical after such a harsh time. Soon the snow will start to melt, and the trees and shrubs will get tiny green buds on them. Smells will begin to return as the snow melts and temperatures rise - the smell of earth, water, flowers, rain!

It's hard to be patient when my creativity is so blocked! How could it not get blocked eventually in these circumstances? Everything that feeds my creativity is being assaulted in the winter:

• No smells - really the only smell I usually notice in the throes of deep winter is exhaust from cars warming up
• Extreme cold - whenever I go outside my body literally tenses up against the cold
• Lack of time in nature - I despise bundling up and going outside in such cold temps - it brings me no joy
• Stir crazy - when we have weeks at a time of negative temps, I avoid going out all together. I don't even want to leave the house to shop! (If you know me, this is an amazing factoid!)
• Less nature - even the amount of animals that I usually see outside my studio window drops to almost nothing. Save the poor squirrels - those guys are troopers but only because they are in constant search of more leaves/bedding to try and stay warm in THEIR homes!

It's times like now, when my heart starts to race when I think about spring. The idea of a fresh rain, or just walking to my mailbox in sandals and no jacket makes me ache! My vacation for this year is not scheduled until the end of April. I am already going to start planning for my trip for next year, and despite the higher cost I plan to go somewhere in February! am going to pick somewhere warm, and hopefully sandy.

For now however, I am going to force myself to my training session this morning. Then I will come home, shower, and likely crawl back into bed with my laptop and focus on writing for the afternoon. My apologies for the negativity - I just had to get it out!

I hope you're somewhere warm, toasty and sunny! (Do you have an extra room??)