So… been a week. A very cold week for this region, meaning the big snow is still very much with us, late and soon. The black ice spreads night by night, and the meteorologists sound strangely rapturous about the possibility of another dump of the white stuff in the near future. Must be winter!
I haven’t had a week like this in ages. With COVID we could and did go outside, probably more than some of us had previously, and that was good for us. With the temperature bouncing between a refreshing 2F and a balmy high of 18F, I’m channeling some indoor vibes.
And I am sleeping. For several days in a row, I’ve been telling myself, “Welp, you are over that dreadful bug, this is a great opportunity to Get After The House, so set that alarm, and back on schedule you go!” The plan is, get up early and write multiple wonderful scenes, then switch to domestic force of nature mode, and edit pages into sparkling near-perfection in the evening. Beddy-bye on time between ten and eleven, repeat.
Great plan!
And not happenin’ so far. Tomorrow’s not looking so good either. Instead, I’ve been hitting snooze and sleeping–hard–for at least another hour. My activity level is low, and yet… I am sleeping soundly. Usually when that happens, or when I sleep through an alarm, I shrug and think, “Guess I was tired.”
Guess, I AM tired. 
And realizing that my sense of when I’m physically fatigued is (still, yet some more) unreliable, I’m pondering what else I’m resting from, because I am resting. This torpid, solitary, low RPMs week is sitting just fine with me.
The first I-needed-a-break that comes to mind is my commute to the horse barn. It’s an hour each way, which is by no means the longest commute on my CV, but my options are for the most part interstates or back-back roads. Roads with no shoulder, plenty of wild life, no handy white line to sight down when the pick-up barreling toward me forgets to dim his brights. Bad to no cell service in stretches.
I hate that rubbishing commute and I hate, loathe, and despise it after dark. Four more weeks, and my schedule will shift, but doing that schlep on three successive days wears me down. I hadn’t admitted that to myself, but by all that’s chocolate, I’m admitting it now.
I am also admitting that trying to step into new roles–Raise ’em charitable funds, Teach that lesson!–is tiring. That stuff takes up mental bandwidth, not simply when I’m in the arena or chatting with a co-worker, but when I’m fretting over what to teach next week, which next fundraising steps I need to first mother-may-my up the food chain, and which I can bull-in-a-china-shop without supervision. I am out of the habit of doing emotional work in an organizational context, but that’s part of the deal I want to take on now.
The residual message for me is: Find some more down time and guard it like it’s my last paperback copy of The Heir. Pay attention to that amorphous sense of lassitude that just might be mental, emotional, or physical fatigue (or all three). Talk to the powers-that-barn about two days on-site instead of three with the spring session, and drive really, really carefully for the rest of the winter shift.
What has the weather helped you learn–the hot weather, the cold weather, the beautiful weather, the dangerous or sweet weather?
PS: We have a final cover for An Heir of Distinction!
Cold weather has taught me that I might be part bear. That is, I am much sleepier when I’m cold even though I go to bed within the same half hour all year and get up at 9am all year. I don’t know if it has anything to do with my joints aching more in the cold but, in a sense, increased discomfort/pain can be fatiguing. And, I say again, we have central air conditioning and heating and I know they work so why do I also feel the approximate temperature outdoors when I don’t go out in it. Right now, Florida is having its worst cold weather in decades and yes, even some light snow down here in the Tampa area! So the thermostat says 75 but it feels to me like it’s closer to 55. Do I believe the hardware or do I believe me?
I hope we all stay safe in these awful conditions!
You believe YOU. I know the whole feline reproductive cycle, the horse hair-coat-shedding cycle, laying hen productivity and other foundations of animal life are built on how much light the creature sees day to day. I’m sure there are other factors, from the jet stream to when we wake up, that influence our metabolic states. When I told my siblings I’m prone to full moon insomnia even with black out curtains, they pretty much chimed in with the same tendencies. Stay warm!
Snow is pretty, but enough is enough! Especially when the very cold single digits have transformed it into ice and it refuses to leave. Pretty snow stays soft and melts away when you’ve enjoyed it enough. This stuff is aggravating. Come on, Mother Nature. I’m in Virginia now, not Ohio or Minnesota!
I keep telling myself, “But at least it’s sunny….” because earlier in the year, I was grouching about the unrelenting overcast. That’ll teach me!
The weather played much larger role back when I was a child, especially wintery weather. There were many days, growing up in the southern tier of NYS, that Mom would not let us out of the house for fear we’d fall into one of the massive snow drifts and not be seen until spring. We had so much more snow 50-60 years ago, and the wind would whip that into huge drifts. Trying to get groceries required saying novenas prior to starting out and plotting the best time to go. Today, the 12+ inches we received were paltry in comparison, but many acted as if the end of the world had arrived. However, I also now have a Jeep with 4-wheel drive and snow tires that take me pretty much anywhere I need to go. I guess it’s a matter of perspective, but I am grateful for whatever it is.
I’m so glad that you’re listening to your body, Grace! It ca be hard to slow down and listen to what our bodies are telling us, I think. And even harder to make changes to plans based on what the body is saying. So it’s awesome that you are going to try to cut down your days per week in the spring session. That is showing some great wisdom right there- good on ya, mate!
rising into the 80s during the day. I have my physical challenges that s ‘em to disrupt waking and sleeping cycles. I’m whining, sorry.
I remember being stuck at home the last winter I was in Michigan (everyone stay home unless you have 4 wheel drive and you can help rescue stranded drivers). Looking out the front window during daylight I saw a Currier and Ives painting in my front yard. It is a warm nostalgic memory.
I live in the middle of Alabama, and we have had quite a bit of unusually cold weather here. I dislike it intensely. Right now it is a balmy 26 degrees which is better than it has been recently.
All this snow turned to ice has given me two insights: first, I have recognized that as carefree as I have been with walking my very small “Plantation”, I am now 85 and my balance has become “unstable”. I have finally come to the place of asking for help due to the fright of injuring some bone I might know the name of and secondly, I have had many more hours of developing the skill of watercoloring painting. This came from a Christmas gift from a person I thought considered me on the very tail end of her gift giving. And now I just realized the snow, the time and watercolor has broken down a wall that I thought was there and maybe it was built of sand! Snow and Ice have their beauty and negative features. Praise the Lord for sister snow.
Yes, winter is a time of rest for Mother Earth, nature and all sentient beings, but we humans tend to treat it as life as usual instead of remembering to slow down. Thanks for the reminder, Grace.
The weather has taught me the value of well-designed and constructed housing. There are more components than I thought possible. Our HVAC system was improperly installed and we alternately simmered and froze. It ran constantly to no effect. The equanimity with which I regard the weather now that it is fixed is remarkable.