Well, it’s only six days into 2019, and thus begins another winter tradition: I’m coming down with my first cold of the season.

Although I have less annoyance than one might expect for that news. I’d even call myself somewhat relieved.

I haven’t talked about it in this newest (brief) round of posting, but I’ve been pretty open here on JALC about how I suffer from clinical depression. That part is (alas) a sure and stable truth of my life. What is less sure to me is whether there’s an extra dose of SAD in my brain chemistry as well.

I kind of think that I’ve had some extra cycles of low energy and depressive behavior during the last couple winters? But I can also point to outside stressors that could have created that sense of wintertime blues.

So, when I needed to take a nap after work on Friday evening, and then again yesterday, I began to ask myself whether I was once again succumbing to “the black dog.”

And then this morning, when I woke up with a stuffy nose and began sneezing, I was able to put my recent tiredness in the context of this cold settling into my system.

Let me tell you this: however annoying it is to have a stuffy nose and all that, it seems so much the better option than if I were having another depressive episode. Hence the somewhat counter-intuitive level of happiness I have to have come down sick.

Still, I am all up in home remedy mode right now. Airborne, Emergen-C, essential oils, ye olde Neti Pot…. I got it wired.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful that it’s just a cold. But there’s no need for this cold to hang around any longer than is absolutely unavoidable.

And with that, off for another early bedtime.

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Image credit: Pxhere, with a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
Public Domain Dedication.