Today is The Day

    Today is the day. The Time-to-pull-myself-up-by-my-Bootstraps Day. January has been a tough month. Between my standard winter depression, post-holiday blues, politics, bitter cold days that had me iced in with cabin fever and cut into my swim days, freezing days at work that left me drained, fighting off a cold/flu that has sucked all of my energy and motivation, and a weird series of events this week that is dredging up demons from my past, I have been struggling to make myself get out of bed in the mornings. But, last night, as I crawled into bed, aching and tired and having skipped my evening workout, I decided that today would be the day to make myself get my shit together and get back on track. I am returning to the "make no excuses" mentality that has carried me through the last few years, through thick and thin.
    The weather is cooperating. The sun has been shining through scattered clouds, the snow and ice are long gone, the wind is drying things out nicely. I have done a quick perusal of the property and I seem to have escaped any storm damage, thankfully. I am getting the itch to start prepping my garden area, but it is still a bit brisk out, and the ground is far too wet. Instead I will peruse my seed and garden catalogs this evening for inspiration.
    High on the list of getting my shit together is getting my house clean, and I'm already well into a day of doing just that. The last few weeks of ennui have left me devoid of any desire to maintain my housekeeping. The resulting clutter and dust only adds to my feelings of dissatisfaction. I learned long ago that being surrounded with disarray only adds to any depression issues that are lurking about. Time to declutter home and mind.
    One area that has remained fairly consistent, with few blips, is my standard regiment of nutrition and training. True, the weather cut into my swim schedule, but that can't be helped. I have increased my strength training in all areas, and am loving the muscle definition. I have been on a bit of a sugar binge (binge compared to my usual low intake... but nothing compared to what I was doing years ago at this time of year), but am still keeping to the concept of rocket fuel for my body. I have known for decades that the best thing I can do to get through the dark, grim days of winter relatively unscathed is to workout daily, and eat healthy. As the years have gone by I have refined and increased my diligence all around. But this last week, with illness dogging me, I was only able to do daily maintenance, instead of  pushing myself as I prefer to do.
     So, Today is the Day. I've had a few weeks of wallowing, it needs to stop. I can't face the chaos of the world around me if I allow myself to flounder. Time to move ahead.