in the bleak mid-winter

If I were putting things mildly, I'd say that this winter has been difficult. But this winter has been anything but mild. For me it has been crippling and debilitating, both physically and mentally. It has sent me on an emotional roller coaster that I wish I knew how to get off. Some days I'm fine, but most days I feel like I'm being crushed beneath the weight of snow and ice, and it's hard to remember that one of these days spring will come and the piling mounds of snow really will melt. On particularly bleak days, when it's dark and bitterly cold, I'm too anxious and afraid to even attempt to venture outside, but staying indoors can be just as daunting. I feel trapped, and we are all going stir crazy. The boys have accumulated more energy than any of us knows how to effectively deal with in small living quarters, and my patience and temper with them -- with everything, really -- often runs too short.

I don't like being this way, especially since I consider myself to be a generally happy person who has her life fairly in balance. But I'm struggling with how to keep these winter blues in check. It's hard to want to get out of bed in the morning and face the day (and, for that matter, sometimes it's hard to go to bed at night knowing that morning will eventually come), but I do it anyway. I try, really I try, to keep going, but so often the motivation to do so just isn't there and all I can do is break down and cry. Lucky for me, I have forgiving children and a patient husband. And sometimes I'm able to find something to occupy myself enough to keep my mind off of this bleak mid-winter. In the meantime, I'm really hoping the groundhog's prediction proves true. I could definitely do with an early spring.

I have to assume that I'm not the only one dealing with a bad case of Winter Blues. How are you warding them off?