Onward

January has been a long slog of a month. If there is one word that comes to mind when I think of the past four weeks, it is BLEH.

This time of year I tend to fall into a pit of gloom. I feel edgy and irritable. Lethargic and lazy. I want to stay in my pajamas all day and light candles and pull blankets up over my legs and never leave the house. Bleh.

But while retreating to that tiny little circle seems cozy and comfortable, it can also be dangerous. Especially for someone like me, who leans more toward the introvert side of the spectrum. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a post about the differences between introverts and extroverts and how introverts aren’t just shy, but we need more time alone and blah-blah-blah. Not only has the whole introvert-versus-extrovert discussion been beaten into the ground, but, quite frankly, it also tends to oversimplify personality differences and, well, you all know I hate labels. So, no. I won’t dig into that whole can of worms (though I suppose I kind of opened it up a crack, didn’t I?). Instead I will simply say that I like my alone time. I like safe and cozy. I like pajamas and staying home. And in times like this and in months like January, I find it very hard to get out of the cycle of bleh.

But even though I don’t want to wish time away, I am not sad to see the month of January coming to a close. I am excited to turn the calendar page in a couple of days. And as much as I’m not a Valentine’s Day aficionado, I’m ready to move into the month of red hearts and pink everything if for no other reason than it won’t be quite so bleh. Even my bleh feelings have gotten tiresome and boring. I’m ready to move on, to move forward.

Sure February is still cold here in the Midwest. There is sure to be plenty of snow. It will still be gloomy and dark. I will still want to spend entire days in my pajamas (and, thankfully, because I work from home, I can actually do that). But you know, just admitting – here, to you all – that it has been a long slog of a month (a couple of months actually) somehow makes it feel a little lighter. A little less lonely. A little less dark and gloomy. A little less bleh.

And so…onward.

Onward.

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This post is part of the weekly Photo Inspiration Challenge with Angie McMonigal Photography. The premise is simple: Angie sends me a couple of photos and I write a blog post based on one of the photos. It is always fascinating to see what words her images bring out of me. Not only have Angie’s photos served as inspiration for several blog posts over the past few years, but they have also inspired certain chapters in Open Boxes and we are working on a putting together a collection of our collaborative work. Stay tuned!