Happy New Year, to everyone that reads this (assuming anyone else does). Wow, it's already half-way through January 2014! How has it treated you so far? Wait, you say, what about Christmas 2013? Christmas 2013 was very quiet, we went out of our way not to celebrate. We didn't put up the tree, we made no formal exchange of gifts (although we did buy things for each other). While not exactly totally into the "Bah, humbug!" camp, we may have set up tent on the outskirts.
The last half of December passed in a blur of work, extreme cold, early darkness and deepening depression. It's the worst attack of seasonal affective disorder I have dealt with since being in Canada. I could not seem to shake a sense of dread as Christmas and the New Year approached, seeing the way 2013 had begun. On days when there was sunshine, I began sitting at the picture window in the living room, eager for light and warmth.
We had a quiet Christmas, entertained by friends of G at their house. We were well-fed, and, being people who enjoy reading, they did not mind one bit when I curled into a corner of their couch and read on my e-reader. I enjoyed not having the stress of preparing the usual elaborate meal that comes with the holiday expectations. On New Year's Eve, I prepared stew peas and dumplings, a very Jamaican dinner which required a bit of time and effort, but turned out as one of my better efforts at that particular dish. We watched a movie together, fell asleep, woke close to the close of the year to kiss the new one into being, then went back to sleep.
2014 started quietly enough, for which I was profoundly glad. I did a workout as scheduled, as I want to maintain the consistency of my efforts at building my best body, regardless of time or space. I then sat down to what used to be an annual task but had fallen by the wayside in 2013: New Year's Resolutions.
Yes, I know that this process has come to be seen as something of a joke, given that all too many people who make resolutions fail at sticking to them. However, I have never been one of those people, I usually make a plan for my year under some broad headings, and use this plan as a framework for carrying on through the year. I am a goal-setter, I like having goals and targets and things to work towards, it gives me purpose and self-direction and a sense of being in control of how my life progresses, rather than being carried will-ye-nil-ye (willy nilly, as we say it now) by whatever happens in life. I enjoy looking back at progress achieved thus far, and plotting a course towards the eventual achievement by making any corrective or evasive maneuvers necessary.
I won't go into detail on what my actual goals are, suffice it to say they cover most of the major areas of life, and this year are written down into what was supposed to be my Game of Thrones book journal but was not necessary for that purpose. It sits on my desk, beside my laptop, ready at hand for consultation, random brain-storming, doodling, updating, and revising. Yes, updates and revisions will be necessary, life has a way of throwing curveballs at you, but one must be prepared to either duck out of the way or swing a bat at it and knock it out of the park. The operative word there is "prepared". If you don't have a plan, you're not very prepared, that's how I roll.
Just over two weeks into 2014 and already we have had more snow, and it is snowing lightly today, with more expected for tomorrow. On the whole, following the "polar vortex" experience of the last half of December, I find myself not minding the snowfall. At least the temperature sits in a tolerable +5 to -10 *C range. Yes, I just wrote that I find up to -10 *C "tolerable". Coming from someone who has spent most of her life in an annual average of about 35 *C, this is quite the tolerance, if you ask me. Once the temperatures descend into the teens below zero, I find it too cold. I cannot seem to get warm inside, no matter how many layers I put on, and I hike the furnace up to 23 *C or ask G to turn on the baseboard heaters. At that point, I am past caring about the gas or hydro bills. I just want to feel warm again.
G is doing all the driving right now. The extremes of cold followed by snow or icy rain have turned the roads into things of dread for me. The roads are either bumpy with new-fallen snow sprinkled with rock salt, or slushy or icy. No, thank you, I will be a passenger again. I realise that I can only become better at handling these conditions by actually attempting to drive in them, but my terror of causing or getting into an accident and the attendant financial nightmare of such a scenario overrides my desire for independence. My risk-aversion is in high gear in winter, and will likely always be that way until I am more accustomed to life in northern Ontario.
In just under an hour, it will be time to head to work. It is Friday, which always makes us happy at work. I am looking forward to unwinding from the week with G, and spending a quiet weekend catching up on the house work.
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