Earlier this week, I heard it was officially the most depressing day of the year. I assume this had everything to do with the number of consecutive cold, snowy, wintery, grey days we’ve had and not because it coincided with the highest number of pet deaths or slushy puddle car sprays.
I am also assuming this date of depression is uniquely Canadian. Once again giving fodder to t.v. comedy writers who jump at the chance to make fun of our customs, traditions and football leagues. Look who’s celebrating today! It’s Canada on the most depressing day of the year!
I guess I too am guilty of succumbing to the bad weather = bad mood equation, stringing together pipe cleaner crafts for days on end because my big mama tobogganing boots while ugly enough to think they must be warm, fail at being both fashionable and keeping me dry.
Maybe it’s because when I’m stuck inside I bake exponentially more muffins, cookies and fresh bread than in our warmer months. Sure the smell of fresh baked goods can perk you up at first but binging on morning glory dough too many days running can make you feel sluggish and deflated. Also those buttery aromas make me want to list our house.
I’ve been using Vitamin D drops as salad dressing hoping to gain some of the many argued benefits from the wonder vitamin including lifting one’s mood. It has only made the greens soggy.
Light therapy has been a positive strategy but try standing in a room with those fluorescent bulbs too long and it really just highlights the lint on your shirt and the strange luminous streaks of the remaining enamel on your teeth. It’s hard to look happy when the bulbous whites of your eyes can see right through your mood.
But then I notice something peculiar in the family room. Here I had been using light therapy, drugs and chocolate batter to lift my spirits and all I had to do was take a quick glimpse at my seven and four year olds who were breast feeding their dollies, one from her elbow and one from the base of her neck while discussing why we eat alive chickens.
Ellie: They aren’t alive chickens Hanna!
Hanna: Yes they are Ellie!
Ellie: Mommy! (love it when I get sucked in)
Me: Yes?
Ellie: Are chicken wings from alive chickens?
Me: Yes, aren’t they delicious?
Ellie: Is that why you eat chicken bras and not chicken wings?
Me: Not exactly. I eat chicken breasts because they are less fatty than chicken wings.
Ellie: Why do we eat things that come from alive animals! There are a lot of foods we could eat instead like broccoli and salami!
In her almost five years of life, I have not once brought salami into this house.
And just like that, depression lifted.
Let’s celebrate again next January.
