There’s no getting around it. All the fun parts of winter are behind us and there’s a rough patch ahead.  The Superbowl is over, the upcoming holidays are lame, and flu season rages on.  This, by far, is the bleakest time of year.

It’s hard to focus on your creative work during times like this. Hard to be optimistic, to put yourself out there and to take risks. Most Manic Impressives need far more stimulation than they can get at this time of year, when all the big fun stuff seems so far off.

But for every area that may be getting you down, there’s a silver lining – something to give you hope enough to muscle through.

Sports Suck Right Now

Sure, I loved watching the Patriots lose the Super Bowl and Eagles fans dance in the streets. But all that’s over now, and we’re in the bleakest time of year for sports.

The NBA is pointless to watch now. Playoffs don’t start ’til April 11th, and the standings will barely change before then. Baseball doesn’t start ’til March 29th, and the next Sumo tournament isn’t until March 11th. Meanwhile, NBC is trying to placate us with mixed-doubles curling from the Winter Olympics.

Usually, I would escape all this and go skiing. But we haven’t had snow in weeks and none is forecast anytime soon. This is the bleakest time possible for sports, whether you’re a spectator or a participant.

The Silver Lining To Sports

Though we’re between Sumo tournaments, you can catch all the video highlights of the 2018 January Grand Sumo Tournament right here. Sumo is awesome. It’s simple to understand, it’ll make you feel good about your weight, and it should tide you over to Spring.

All The Good Holidays Are Over

The current lineup of holidays is pretty lame. You won’t get any time off for Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s days, but you’ll be encouraged to blow a lot of dough and suffer a hangover and a lot of drunken fools.

And sadly, only people in Illinois get time off for Casimir Pulaski Day.

The Silver Lining To Holidays

There won’t be any presents, fireworks or special foods, but you will get a nice 3-day weekend for President’s Day. That’s always something worth celebrating.

The Weather Here Is Great – Which Is Horrible

Last week the groundhog declared 6 more weeks of winter, but here in California, the weather’s been spectacular – sunny, warm and dry.

But this is not good news. After the horrific wildfires of last summer and the following mudslides, this great weather is the bleakest thing that could happen to us. We need more rain and snow, or we’ll be back in a dangerous drought cycle. And that just leads to more weather-based misery for us down the line.

The Silver Lining To Weather

On March 11th you can spring ahead and change your clocks to Daylight Savings Time. All that extra light will help you avoid your annual bout with SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder – a condition we Manic Impressives often suffer from.

Politics

Nothing to get up about here, but lots to worry about. There’s a government shutdown looming and no real progress on immigration, health care, or foreign interference with our elections.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing we citizens can do about it right now. We’re months away from anything we can vote for or against. And now that the big stock market run-up is over, a lot of folks are worried about losing their retirement accounts in the stock market.

The political landscape is at its bleakest right now.

Silver Lining To Politics

Despite our government’s dysfunction, it has done a good job facilitating the work of private companies in furthering our space program. Did you see Elon Musk’s rocket go up this week and execute a perfect landing? The SpaceX rocket launch and landing was an incredible achievement and should make all Americans proud and hopeful. A great example of government partnership with private industry.

Though Things Are Bleakest, It’s Going To Be Okay

Like they say, it’s always darkest before the dawn. This is a tough time of year, but it’s only temporary. You will get that job offer you’re hoping for, your 401k will bounce back, and fun will return when Spring erupts in all its glory.

Until then, hang in there, and know that you’re not alone. There are a lot of us who struggle at this, the bleakest time of year. Reach out to friends, focus on your resolutions, and know that if you take a little positive action every day, you will be in a happier place soon.