SAD

I think I shall go to the tanning salon tomorrow. Bad, I know. But better than SAD. The lack of sunlight, the lack of outdoor exercise, the lack of available nutritional food, and the lack of the structure of work days has got me feeling less than great.

I like winter for a few months, and then I am done. Since winter seems to have arrived a couple of months early here this year, I am already done with it just as it is starting. I think I will have to do some tricky stuff to get through.

Tricky like like the tanning salon (not proven to be a substitute for real sunshine, but I swear it improves my mood). Tricky like maybe planning a quick trip to a place not incredibly expensive but warm. I may not be willing to fly, so it may have to be within driving distance. If my sponsor and her husband end up in Tucson for the winter as they probably will, that will make it an easy decision - I will go visit them. Tricky like maybe going out for a walk at lunchtime when I am at work if it is sunny. I can get the majority of my workouts in the gloom of the dark mornings on my treadmill, but I need some fresh air.

I made some phone calls this afternoon to some people I thought might need a word of encouragement or just to know that someone cares about how they are. That is what I have been taught to do as a member of AA.... When I am thinking of myself a lot it tends to make me very unhappy, but when I turn my thoughts to others, it tends to help me forget myself - if only for a moment.

Pulling out all stops to get through the next couple of months without gaining weight or getting terribly depressed.

Oh, and I plan on staying sober, and I hope you do too.