The Wrath of January

I thought January 24^th was supposed to be the most depressing day of the year?  It is supposed to be the darkest day of the year and the exact moment everyone fails miserably at their New Year’s Resolutions.  I was really looking forward to it.  (Insert dry cough).  Then, I heard about this blue Monday.  It was last Monday, the 6th.  This is new.  Ok, I’ll bite.  No wonder I was having a zinger of a day.

Can we all just collectively say that the whole month of January is depressing and move on?  We really don’t need to pin point one particular day.  Who makes this stuff up?  No seriously.  These evil depressing day makers are sitting in their lovely ivory tower laughing at all of the walking zombies…”look at them, they are miserable.  We did that!”  They high five and drink chi tea from their golden mugs and throw back their heads in laughter.  Job well done.

Yes, we get it.  January sucks!  You are stuck home with the kids and if you do venture out somewhere…somehow your child is puking his or her guts 2 days later.  That damn children’s museum!!!!!  Those germs!!!!  Did you see that kid with the cough?  GHAST!  All of the sudden, your throat gets dry, you cough a couple of times into your sleeve and you know it’s the beginning of the end.  JANUARY!

How can we survive?

If I am being honest, I am barely surviving.  Currently, my 2 year old is holding an unopened marker in each of her hands; red and green.  She is in the other room.  I am completely ignoring this situation.  If I walk in there and the walls are covered in marker, these 5 minutes of peace would have been worth it.  No amount of oxy clean can scrub away the happiness I feel from alone time.  My 4 year old has screamed “Cock a doodle doo” about 45 times… and I just told her not to pick her nose and eat it for the third time in 30 minutes.  My serenity is hiding under a pile of laundry, gasping for breath.  “HOLD ON SERENITY!!!  I’m COMING!!!”  I am frantically searching for it under unfolded tutus and tights. 

Do you ever think that your life leads you to this exact very moment?  I say that as I fold the penguin shirt, only to have my daughter come and throw it back in the pile.  I think about that concept whenever I’m doing something like fighting an endless battle of headband drama or pulling off a sticky lollipop piece from my pants.  My life has led me here... in January… to this very moment.  Who am I?  Maybe you say that to yourself as your teenager screams, “I hate you,” and storms upstairs.  You look in the mirror and see another gray hair emerge.  Perhaps you are doing a tap dance routine to get your picky child to eat?!  Whatever the case, we are here from the choices we made.  We have the make the most of it.  We cannot settle.  There has to be more for us!  There always is.  So, let’s be inspired…even in January. 

I went to an entrepreneur meeting last week with very inspiring Mom entrepreneurs.  As the host spoke, I realized how sometimes the most inspiring moments come from a simple fact that we are not alone.  One simple concept.  We are not alone.  Every single mom there has dealt with marker on the walls, food on the floor, and serenity in the lost and found.  We are all in this together.  That is the most comforting thought ever!  It allows us to take such a big concept as depression; shrink it down, and blow it out.  Poof.  Gone.  How can we be anything less than inspired, knowing there are other Moms out there who get it?!  I am inspired by the women I met.  They make me want to do more/be more/ see more/accomplish more/hope for more…

They make me know that there is greatness in waiting…in our reserve tanks…

It’ll come, when the time is right.

So, even if you feel the wrath of January, please know that we are all feeling the same thing.  Even as you are pleading with God to take you from this life of gray…try to find inspiration in someone or something which will take you through until spring. 

Hold on.  We are almost there.  The light is coming!