In attempting to beat the seasonal blues that I appear to be in thrall of, I have found a slightly off-the-beaten-path cure-all for the blahs.
Last weekend, my husband and I helped to paint my brother's house. I am telling you, assisting in a home renovation that costs you nothing but time and sore shoulders does a number on your frame of mind.
Now when you paint your own house, you spend a lot of the time prepping and moving things and generally having your living space disrupted.
You worry about making mistakes and having the colour not be exactly what you want. You worry about whether or not your dcor matches (or offsets) the new paint. You fret about every unfilled hole in the drywall, unsquared wall or the occasional roll-mark on the ceiling.
Not so in someone else's house!
When you paint someone else's house and it's quiet and your mom has taken the kids, the gentle drone of the CBC and the woosh of the paintbrush seep quietly into your anxious psyche.
The rhythm of the brushes and the specks of paint on your hands soothe even the most troubled mind.
The occasional expletive murmured in the room adds to the sense of camaraderie and calmness as you, or one of your painting buddies, accidentally paints a section of the window trim a lovely forest green colour.
If you're the accidental painter, you swear; if it's one of your painting pals, you laugh at them with a smug smile.
Even later, when you hand is cramping from holding the brush too tightly, there is a certain amount of self-satisfaction from a job well-done.
Your hands and shoulders might need a liberal dosing of ibuprofen in order for you to fall asleep, but it is the throbbing pain of real work.
Most of my work days are spent sitting at a desk and typing away at a computer. I answer emails, draft letters, and shuffle papers around (if my employers are reading, this is an exaggeration for narrative effect).
I try to get out of my desk and walk around but largely, my job is sedentary.
I am not a lazy person (that might be a lie) but office work promotes a certain amount of inactivity. Unless I get one of those insane treadmill desks (not going to happen), I need to be more conscious of the fact that I need to move more in order to stay sane.
So here is my recommendation for my fellow sufferers of seasonal blues, get off your duff and help paint someone else's house.
