rainy gray monday bleck

I routinely struggle with Monday.

Monday is not my favorite.

And today... Monday was rainy.

I knew as soon as I looked out the window this morning that was going to be a problem. Bleck.

I tried to make the rain feel cozy...

Fried apples for breakfast. Because I'm a health nut like that. They did make the house smell great, along with my autumny Target candle. It was kind of a fallish, cozy breakfast.

But, then breakfast was over.

Bleck.

Even Baby was staring forlornly out the window.

She was having trouble facing the day, too.

What do you all do when you feel this way? You know, when you get IN A FUNK.

Sometimes, I try to run from responsibility. I think I'll lay the baby down for a nap and play a loooooong movie for the kids and I'll sit and zone out on the internet. Look at Pinterest all afternoon. Read Facebook profiles from my junior year chemistry classmates.

You know what, though? Seriously, nine times out of ten, the zoning out makes it worse. My kids inevitably get grumpier, then I'm grumpier, and the house is a wreck, and blah, blah, blah.

If it's nice out and I'm feeling a little down, sunlight and fresh air often help. But, of course, it wasn't nice out today.

This is what my dining room table looked like this morning. I did a Christmas card "shoot" on Saturday for a sweet couple in our church expecting their first baby. It was a lot of fun, but the props kind of took over a bit (making me edgey!). I found a note on the table Dude had written earlier...

He started out well, at least! "Miserable out". Ha ha.

Something needed to happen. We were all going to slip into a funk soon if I didn't intervene somehow.

I know everyone is different. Maybe for you, when you get all down and sulky like I was this morning, maybe for you it works best to zone out (?). Maybe you can take a hot bath in the middle of the morning. Maybe you can up and go to Starbucks. I can't very easily do either of those things. And, like I said, I've just found that zoning doesn't do me - or my little people - any favors.

Really, the best thing for me to do when I get all funky mooded is to get moving.

We needed to get on with this day, already.

The children read their Bibles and got started on their math. And I decided that it was time to take care of one of the most annoying rooms in the house. My master bedroom. It was a MESS.

Even if I could just put away the many, many, many piles of clean clothes that were strewn about that room... that would be better than nothing.

So, I took the youngest two upstairs with me and got started.

I tried to give the children things to do while I worked. Punkin came up and did some of her school on my bed.

Before I knew it, I had the room looking pretty good. I vacuumed it, and then it was time for lunch... then naps & rest times.

I felt a lot better. Practically speaking, it helps me to get up and do something. Something productive. That you can SEE results from. It's just encouraging to me, and sometimes you need a little practical encouragement.

I'm not talking about real depression, here, by the way. That lasts longer than a day. Longer than a week. That doesn't just magically go away when you say a list of things you're thankful for or just because the sun comes out. It doesn't go away when you clean up your bedroom. I've had a little taste of that. And it's not pretty.

Thankfully, the times in my life where it's gotten ugly have been few and far between... and fairly shortlived. Sam and I have started to learn the warning signs. We've started to learn how to be proactive. When depression isn't to the point where it's easily recognizable as such... when it seems more like it's knocking at the door and peeking in... steps like the ones I took today really can help me. I try to do something productive. I try to give the children something productive to do, too. If it's nice, we go outside. If it isn't, I try to make something orderly. I organize - it encourages me. I try to resist the temptation to zone out. I limit my computer time because the screen seems to make it worse.

After I put Baby down for her afternoon nap today and Dude went down for a rest time, I gave the older girls some assigned reading for school, made myself a cup of coffee (I don't usually have more than one a day, and sometimes it can backfire and make me crankier, but it seemed like a good idea today), and settled down to really regroup.

I knew I needed to seek hard after thankfulness. You know, you can't just conjure up thankfulness. You can mentally review blessings and consciously think those thoughts, and that's certainly not going to hurt, but we need the Spirit to be at work in us if we're going to have truly thankful hearts... transformed hearts. I knew I needed to go to the Word of God. To ask the Holy Spirit to deal with me.

Happy socks don't hurt matters ;)

Not surprisingly, my reading plan for today was just right for the need.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God..." Psalm 40

Have you figured out what helps you turn a bleck day around? I know it's not the same for everyone. What works for you?