Try to be Shakespeare...

"Try to be Shakespeare, leave the rest to fate."

This was another quote read by my yoga instructor that perked me up. She described the meaning as not comparing yourself to others, but it reminded me of an article I recently read by Mark Manson called "In Defense of Being Average." The take away from the story 'was shoot for greatness, but be content with mediocrity.' It's a really great read that pinpoints how today's limited attention only allows for the extreme and can make us feel inadequate when in reality, most everyone falls somewhere in the middle, just like us. Real happiness lies in contentment when we embrace just that and--wouldn't you know it--stop comparing ourselves to others. 

You are not a tree.

I talk about leaving Chicago all the time. I don't know if I ever actually will, but after all these years here, the city has lost a lot of the allure that it had for me in the beginning.

Then I recently saw this quote on facebook (originally shared by Kenny Rogers) and decided I've either got to stop complaining or do something about it. Lots of life decisions to be made in the near-ish future, so we'll see what happens.

Now Playing: Otherwhile

Digging this new Otherwhile album because, well, I love Stevie Nicks. I found their song "Die Hard" in Spotify's New Music Friday playlist today and it sounds just like the one with the scarves.

I can't find much about them, but apparently the band is led by former Ra Ra Riot cellist Alexandra Lawn, and in this Brooklyn Vegan article from last year they list Fleetwood Mac and The Pretenders as influences. ORLY.



Another song that stood out in the New Music list today was Donna Missal "Keep Lying," but I don't know anymore about her. Could just be an initial reaction. TBD.

"Are you SAD?"

A co-worker asked me this yesterday, referring to the seasonal depressive sads, and it got me thinking.

The last few weeks have been pretty rough for me, but for no particular reason. Yeah, weather has been getting colder and my public transit commute has been a special kind of hell lately, so I thought I was just feeling down because of that. But I feel like everything I attempt, whether it's as simple as getting to work or just trying to plan ahead a little bit is met with resistance. In short I've just been feeling generally down and discouraged. And angry. I have a lot of anxiety and anger, too. Plus my focus has been almost nonexistent, even writing and editing this post is hard to care about.

It's been especially bad since the daylight savings time change almost two weeks ago, so maybe the shorter days and lack of daylight combined with the other stuff really is affecting me. I always feel this way this time of year, but I think I'm more attuned to it this year since I'm working out more and not drinking alcohol as much to distract me.

For this very reason, I planned an extended warm getaway for the tough winter months, but that's still a couple months away. I've finally decided to get one of those phototherapy light boxes that a friend who goes through the same thing recommended, so hopefully that helps some. I'll go ahead and make a check-in appointment with my old therapist, too.

Anybody else got the sads? How do you deal with it?