Curing the January Blues

I confess: I self-medicate.

Well, I self-therapist.

January makes me nuts. The mix of Christmas being over, slow news and digging for stories, stormy weather, and exercising again just gets me down. Plus, let’s face it. Being a journalist isn’t the happiest profession I could have chosen.

Sure, there isn’t much bad news in but reading CNN, The Huffington Post and other news websites to make sure nothing big is going on is pretty wearing on the heartstrings.

So I have these little things that combat depression. I’m not talking about clinical depression (please, see a doctor and do not try these if you’re clinically depressed or you think you are) but the blues.

• I look at puppy websites, Stumbleupon set on puppies, puppy videos, and my own dog, Daisy. I also go to adoption events on Saturdays just to play with the puppies for a few minutes.
• I get the Sex and the City DVD set, drink white zinfandel, and eat Dove chocolates and read the inside of the wrappers for motivational sayings. This accounts for probably 50 percent of the times I’ve ever drunk alcohol because I’m not a fan of it. This is just something I started doing with my college roommates, and it has stuck.
• I get the trashy magazines at the checkouts at the grocery store that have the celebrities without makeup, bad beach bodies or any combination of the two and read them in my floor.
• I get chicken salad and eat it out of the carton with low-fat Triscuits while sitting on my counter above the dishwasher because it’s warm. I would be ashamed to admit how many Patch stories I've written from atop my dishwasher.

When I’m more depressed, I read my Bible or call my mama. These are the things that just fix the blues.

How do you fix the January blues?