Questions + Answers
From Joe C.
Allison,
What lifts you up from your doldrums?
Dear Joe,
This is the perfect day for this question. I was just saying to my sister — brown and grey, brown and grey, that’s all I see on February days. It can get to you if you are partial to sunshine. I love a sunny day, but I’m lucky I’m not brought down by its opposite, and am in fact, as a general rule, energized by rain and particularly thunderstorms.
But today it hasn’t really rained so much as oozed water, and thunder is nowhere near. It’s just gloomy, soggy, and quite a bit warmer than it probably should be. February — the cruelest month of all.
What lifts me out of the browns and greys is anything that connects me with a part of myself that knows joy — the part that likes to play and create is soothed with a pencil, paper, and paint or maybe a needle and thread or other tactile project; the part that loves music is challenged to find the chords that get me out of my head; the part that loves people gets in touch with a friend and usually schedules some sort of engagement.
I have always been good at the lift. I don’t know if I was born an optimist or if I knew lifting was the better choice. And I’m happy to say that now, I’m on medication that keeps me from getting in the ditch as frequently as I once did. I don’t feel captive to my moods anymore and the swing just isn’t as wide as it was when I was younger and dumber. Not that I’m old by any means, but I’m older and wiser everyday, and tend to think to myself this too shall pass more than I would’ve allowed earlier in my life.
I know our community here must have a long list of doldrums destroyers. It might be fun to share them all if y’all want to leave them in the comments. I’m happy you’re a part of The Autotelic family, Joe.
I’ll close by saying that it isn’t shameful to admit loneliness, depression, anxiety, or anything else. We are all human and all need support from time to time. Some of us need it more than time to time, and there isn’t anything wrong with that either. We all have our parts to play in life — some need, some give, and most everyone does both to varying degrees as they walk their path. No one should ever feel ashamed for needing help. It’s brave to speak up and be vulnerable enough to say the truth about how many challenges being a human being can present.
Thank you for your question, Joe.
I hope y’all have a fantastic weekend.
PEACE. LOVE.
Allison
Send me a question at allisonmoorercontact@gmail.com
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Hi Allison
What a super question Joe, and such a nice reply, Allison. I wish I could say I like rainy days, but I do not. I love the sunshine. Maybe being a native Floridian and now a transplant to North Carolina has something to do with it.
I’m happy to read your new medication is helping you Allison. You’re so fortunate to have your painting, sewing, crafts & music to lead you out of the doldrums. I’m envious of those that have those talents. My creative interest always lead me outdoors. To the garden. The trellis I want to make from tree branches & vines. The stone pathway I need to lay. The railings of the deck I need to finish painting. Not something one can do on a rainy day though.
My real mainstay is my exercise. I absolutely love the gym. Everything about it. I belong to two. And NEVER miss a day. I wake up in the morning excited to go. I take every class that’s available to me. I’m trying a spin class next week that starts at 6am. Excited & scared at the same time lol
There is something so wonderful about caring for one’s mind & body
And my sobriety now allows me to 😌
Like you, I’ve always been able to find the light so to speak. A gift & a blessing for sure.
So thankful
Have a lovely weekend Allison 🌸
xo
Allison and Joe C: Being from Michigan, historically by now the doldrums have revved up to what may be approaching clinical depression. The sun won't have shown much since Halloween. And we're down to sifting through our mental storage unit to find any hope at all. Kind of like looking for a cigarette butt that could provide one or two "hits". But because God has a devillish sense of humor, he created March. Anyway the last two or three years have been anything but the usual. We had summer until a week or two before Christmas, followed by the polar vortex from hell for a week and now back to summer again. Now the monied class scoffs at global warming and point to the 4" to 6" of snow then ice in Nashville (Detroit had 2" for a day or two) and the week of 20° lows in Panama City. They trumpet this as proof that Global Warming is a hoax. The meteoroligists say that because of global warming the Jet Stream isn't strong enough to keep the Polar Vortex back in Canada where it belongs. This is all to say that in a couple of months we'll be complaining about the heat. And on and on. Regarding dealing with doldrums, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and put Muddy Waters on your streaming gizmo. Thanks for not kicking me off yet