I personally find the months after Christmas and before Spring starts tend to bring people down – it could be the lack of sunshine, or the miserably cold weather, or the ice covered slippery roads, or the cold and flu…this time of year it’s just really easy to feel a little down. At least it feels that way to me. I find I start missing the sunshine and warm weather like crazy and life can just feel a little down.

I’ve always been a huge believer in the importance of having something exciting to look forward to in life, but I find it is especially important when it comes to helping to combat the winter blues.  Having something to look forward to on the calendar, something you can get excited about, is the perfect way to keep you from feeling stuck in a rut.

And I’m not just referring to having big events to look forward to, I’m suggesting having a lot of little events to look forward to as well – perhaps an upcoming music concert, or a new movie release, or a weekend getaway.  Get out your calendar and make sure you have at least one thing each week you can be looking forward to doing for the next few months until the sun comes back out and it’s the glorious summertime again!

Beyond scheduling some fun events to look forward to be sure to also set some worthwhile goals to achieve between now and the start of summer.  There is no better pick-me-up then the feeling of having achieved a worthwhile goal.

“People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Always have something ahead of you to look forward to, to work for and hope for.”  -Maxwell Malz

So to combat the winter blues may sure and stay busy…then as Olaf from frozen suggests just close your eyes and imagine what it’ll be like when summer does come 🙂

~Amy Rees Anderson