The Post Holiday Blues

This photo of Coco, our gorgeous Snowshoe Siamese cat, was taken the night following Christmas day. Exhausted from the flurry of family and little ones invading his space, he hid under our bed for most of two days.  Not used to the noise that accompanies a crowd of people combined with the perpetual motion of children amped-up in their holiday excitement, Coco didn’t sleep his usual 20 hours a day, but rather lay vigil, hiding under the bed, in anxiety and fear.  Finally, around 9:00 p.m. that night, after visiting family had wandered off to bed, Coco came out of his hidey-hole.

He wandered around our family room, sniffing the air, absorbing strange new smells of family, food, presents, celebration.  Finally, he climbed on the back of Charlie’s recliner and promptly fell asleep.

This was a new behavior for him.  He rarely climbs on the back of Charlie’s recliner and never sleeps there.  He much prefers sleeping on our ottoman or our kitchen table (don’t judge me!).  After thinking why he choose this location to finally saw some zzz’s, it occurred to me that he did so because he felt safe.  Obviously, with his keen sense of kitty smell, he could smell Charlie (his favorite human, next to me, of course) all over that chair plus at that elevated height he had a view of the entire great room, which includes our kitchen.  Potential invading forces (the little ones) would not escape his view from this vantage point!

Shockingly, I haven’t posted anything for 2 weeks – since the day before Christmas Eve.  It isn’t that I don’t have recipes and stories lined up to share on my blog.  I do.  But, I’ve been in a slump and today it occurred to me that I have the post holiday blues.

In all my very long life, I don’t recall ever being in this predicament before.  I haven’t been able to figure out this sense of malaise that I’ve been feeling – a vague feeling of overwhelming tiredness accompanied by an uneasiness.  I’ve chalked it up to a lingering cold that I’ve had since November – a physical tiredness that I can’t shake because I don’t feel my normal 100%.  Topped with a stagnant sense of not moving forward, not setting goals for 2016, I haven’t wanted to work on my blog.  At all.

This is highly unusual for me because I love this blog.  I love writing, I love photography, I love photo-editing.  I even love the technical stuff that I haven’t mastered yet when it comes to running a blog. Notice how I keep using the word “love” to describe this blog?  I think I’m trying, hard, to rally myself.

So, what’s up with me?  Until today, it never even occurred to me that I might have the post holiday blues or a holiday hangover.  While I love and adore my family, the days and weeks leading up to a large family gathering are a flurry of decorating, shopping, cooking, gift buying and wrapping – getting everything ready for the “big day.”  In our case, we had 3 “big days” with both sides of our family.  And, since they’ve ended, I’ve found that I just want to do what Coco does best – sleep.

But, I can’t.  Sleep, that is.  Don’t get me wrong – I get a good night’s sleep.  But, I just can’t vegetate – just “be”.  Instead of pouring that uneasiness into working on this blog, I’ve been cleaning out our garage, instead, and packing up the Christmas decorations.  The garage is taking shape, but my blog is stagnant.

Anyway, don’t give up on me!  I’ll work through this bout of post holiday blues toot sweet, as most people do when they have the post holiday blues, and be back to posting regularly again soon.  In the meantime, know that Coco and Charlie are taking good care of me.  Plus, one of the Princesses (Princess Sweetie Pie) is having her 6th birthday party tomorrow, so I’ll be submerged in celebrating surrounded by lots of kids having a chaotic, joyous, rollicking good time (Coco is staying home).

If you, too, are suffering from post holiday blues, here are a couple of links with ideas for moving forward:

How to Cope with Post Holiday Syndrome

Daily Juggle: Fighting post-holiday blues with my own personal rainbow

5 Ways to Fight the Post-Holiday Blues

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Tootles,