New Year's Goal- Get through winter without having to wear a light therapy visor...

December is really such a tease.  I spent all month admiring beautiful lights and decorations, enjoying good food and drinks with family and friends, feeling merry and briiiiiiiight...

And then January hit me like a ton of bricks.  The first few days were great (despite the 16 bottles of Gatorade I had to chug just to get out of bed).  I felt ambitious, motivated and excited.  THIS is the year.  The year I'll really get it together.  I'll discover the perfect work/home/social balance.  I'll make the most fabulous food while running at least 20km a week.  I'll watch less TV and read more books.  I'll do yoga.  I'll get married (oh God- that actually IS going to happen!!!)...  but then, by the first full week of January I'm already feeling overwhelmed, defeated and I've somehow managed to injure my elbow?!

This winter blues stuff is nothing new for me and I don't think I'm alone.  The cold weather and short days make me feel like a prisoner.  There is nothing appealing about leaving the comfort of my warm living room to go out in the snowpacolypse or -33 degree temperatures.  Then Thursday rolls around and I realize I haven't left the house in three days (thank the stars above that the new season of The Bachelor just started back up!).  The winter makes me feel like I'm at my worst.

As you can imagine, I'm a real joy to live with during this time of year.  T will be accepting applications for temporary fiance swaps soon.  We had a chat last night about what I can be doing to make the winter go by a bit quicker that would also help build my resume without having to wear one of these:

Although the last two "winter projects" (working part time at a Froyo shop and taking an Into to Tea class) helped make the months pass by, they aren't exactly things I feel especially proud of.  I really enjoy working with people but I also find a lot of joy in reading, writing and exploring the online social world.

It took about 2 minutes of googling before I found some really interesting courses in Social Media and Community Management at one of the Toronto colleges downtown.  Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going back to school!!  Again!!  In the Faculty of Business & Legal Studies!!  Wait... what?!  I'm excited to start my first course in Social Media Marketing next week.  

Stay warm out there and please leave me any comments or suggestions you may have on beating those winter doldrums.  You can find me on Twitter @darbyvt.