It's Positively Tuesday

I am coming off a four day weekend where I was about as busy had I worked Friday and Monday. No doubt I will have no time easing into retirement...a mere decade from now. I like to work. I like to stay busy, but I am feeling stretched right now and in another month I will be in the throws of the chaos season at work. I'm almost glad it Tuesday, the day I have decided to take a deep breath, step back, and look at everything that is positive right now. The last few January's many bloggers have picked a word or a short phrase to give them a focus for the new year. I'll start there.

• My word for 2018 is momentum. I like a few of the synonyms Merriam-Webster gives it such as encouragement, boost, and impetus. While of course there can be negative fall backs that easily could start to snow ball, I'm prepared to still keep putting my feet forward, even if I've taken those steps back.
• My older daughter called when I was helping the youngest do her hair for pictures yesterday. The three of us work shopped out loud a new Instagram name for her public poetry account. I talked to her again after youngest left about her plans and ideas, and she gave me some prodding and encouragement as well.
• I just pulled up my work e-mails. I really only have about 45 actual e-mails to deal with. For being out of the office four days,yes, three were weekend and holiday, that is a relatively tiny number. I should be at my desk and have most dealt with before 9:00, and it is only a four day work week until another weekend. Actually, all my weeks in January are only four days.
• On Sunday, I unexpectedly ran into my niece, the one who lost her husband in August, in the grocery store. Something about that particular time, she felt very comfortable talking and sharing some of the struggles she and the kids are having. Standing in the coffee and tea isle, we came up with a small idea for her son, one that I was able to get implemented as soon as I got home. It reinforced that listening, and then offering a few actionable ways to help, even if they are small, are most meaningful.
• Last, and probably to my life, not at all the most important, the Minnesota Vikings won their play off game in a clock ending touchdown. Other Minnesota football fans will understand this feeling that for once, our team was the one that snatched victory at the last second.

That's what I got this cold and dark January morning. Yesterday, researchers noted, can be the most depressing day. I get it. I have long lamented that by mid January, after my daughter's birthday  is done, I feel  off kilter and start longing for spring at a very impatient rate. I like this blog post debunking Blue Monday as the third Monday in January has been labeled. While it is cold, and dark, and a long time until spring, I'm trying to not get caught up in it this year. I'll bank on my word, and keep my momentum and use the indoor time to accomplish things, to talk with people, and to do little actions that make life good.