One Week Report

So, we're a week into the 100 Day Challenge.

Remember C.L.? She has made daily exercise and increased water intake part of her Massive Action Plan, and she's been on track every day so far.

Remember J.W.? He's actually ahead of his M.A.P.! His goal the first week was to reduce his use by 50% - but he exceeded his week 1 goal and reduced use by 75%.

For those skeptics out there saying "Yeah, but what about in a month? Will they still be taking action?", don't worry - I'll report back to let you know how it's going.

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On another note, I wanted to briefly mention seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Most people think of this as the Winter Blues - and it can be! But it often begins as hours of sunlight diminish - and even at my relatively stable latitude, it's obvious that winter is coming. (Yes, it's still over 100 degrees outside, but not for as long each day!) But what can make SAD worse is the stress that comes with holidays - starting as early as Halloween!

After all, you have to get the right costume and candy and the perfect pumpkin, and you barely have time to eat all the candy before you have to go out and get a turkey that will feed everyone, cook it to perfection, make Great-Aunt Mabel's artichoke loaf that nobody will eat, deal with hungry and cranky kids while zombie dads watch football, pack up all the leftovers, and be ready to hit the stores and fight the crowds the next day, just so you can scurry home to wrap and pack, then zip to the post office to mail everything, then race back home to bake a batch of cookies, make a million trips for batteries and tape, reproduce the gourmet masterpiece of Thanksgiving, get the kids to pick up their toys and the wrapping paper because company is coming (again), clean up the dog vomit (he got ahold of the cheeseball), and on and on it goes.

If you were describing this process to aliens from another planet, what do you think their reaction would be? Something like, "Why do you do all that?"

Stress alone can lead to depression. With limited daylight, it's like psychologically decreasing the time we have to care for ourselves. Make sure you continue to carve out 15 to 30 minutes a day of YOU-time. If you haven't already been doing it, by all means, START! It's not a guaranteed way to solve all your seasonal woes, but it will make Great-Aunt Mabel's artichoke loaf easier to deal with!