Are winter times and the blues connected?

                       

 

                                    Winter Blues

                                         By Aubrey Hammack

 

On this cold, cloudy, windy January day as I gaze out the window overlooking the woods out back, I sense a sadness that is often felt on such days.

It's hard to believe that 07 is here.  I still am having trouble writing that date as I usually do when a new year rolls around.

Today my thoughts go back a few years ago when the Flames were in Atlanta.  A friend of mine, Terry Culpepper was responsible for introducing me to hockey. He is a walking encyclopedia on hockey as well as what I would consider a great hockey fan.  Macon, Georgia at that time had a hockey team called the Macon Whoopee and Terry was the penalty box keeper for the team.  Later for a couple of other Macon Hockey teams, he served in the same capacity.

Well, he talked me into going with him to some Flame's games and although skeptical at first, I grew to really enjoy these excursions to Atlanta in those  cold winter months.   

But it wasn't just the  hockey games, the smell of the ice, the coldness inside the arena or sitting in the nose bleed section  that I enjoyed.  It was more about a new activity in January after Christmas that was making me feel better on those cold winter nights. And of course, it was the conversations with my friend while anticipating the event, traveling to it, experiencing it with him and our conversations driving back home, that I realized even then were to be golden memories later for me.

The period right after Christmas for me has always been a depressing time.  I think with all the build up to Christmas and then it being over so quickly, a let down is inevitable.

So then there are steps we can take to feel better when the winter blues set in.  We must be willing sometimes to try something new and above all else be proactive and find that certain something that we want to do and then do it. 

For myself, this year writing this article is a least a beginning.  I get pleasure out of putting my thoughts down on paper.  I believe most people who write feel this also. 

There is just something so enjoyable about trying to express your thoughts in written form.  I like it more than trying to express myself verbally. It seems easier. 

So today I feel that by expressing my thoughts on this subject that I have succeeded in chasing away those winter blues at least momentarily. 

If you have the blahs , I realize your solution may not be writing, or going to hockey games but I just bet that if you give it some serious thought, you can think of something.