It is.....and it is rather chaotic after the holidays, schedules interrupted, houses all askew......

for myself i find being out and about and with other people helps, even if it's for just a while...even errands seem to change the scenery so to speak....

good luck...

Go ahead be negative if you have to, don't hold back. I will listen!!! I f i have learned one thing in the last six months it's you can't hold it in let it out!!

I feel negative since the New Year; what is the point in anything :(
Every day I vow to try to be positive, and pull it together for the sake of my son, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Hugs Nicola

Awwwww. sorry you are feeling down. I'm not going to try to cheer you up because we all have those downs every now and then. One thing that I was pondering the other day is - the differences in my life since Jerry died. Someone did another post about going places alone - I thought and realized that I did a lot alone without Jerry when he was alive. Often, (after 39 plus years of marriage), we were in the same house, but for hours we did our things and met up for dinner!!! I know it's vastly different, but I will survive. To me now,( because I don't have any choice but to be alone), the possibility of creating a new life - preserving what I like about my old life, and growing in my senior years , presents great possibilities and excitement. I am trying to ''see'' more now - take the time to see more, not sights so much as to see what I already have, and appreciate it. We all have a lot - memories alone can carry me a good long time. Just my thoughts. xoxo Vicki

Until this year, I have always enjoyed winter. I hate the hot summer days. However, it's been a real challenge to keep my spirits up this year mainly due to it getting dark so early. Last winter was a blur to me as Brian died in January.

It's gloomy, cold, and snowy today in KY. I'm trying to enjoy the snow bursts we're getting and I actually went shopping today even though it was so cold. It helped to get out and about today.

Nessie from KY

I never really minded the winter months in the past. This time around I am dreading it. Cold, snowy, rainy, and more cold is not for me any longer.

Yes I also find it very hard with the winter season and the long cold nights. Nights were "our time" and now it seems like they are 20 hours long before it gets light again..........hang in there with the rest of us

I, too, dread the nights. They are forever and there is nothing on TV for which I pay $99 per month, and I am too tired to focus on reading for very long. We were so close, we talked all the time to each other. We didn't even NEED TV. At times when the power went off, we would just have such a great time talking and the time passed OK. Now, if the power goes out, I can't watch TV or read. Total silence in the house. Oh, how I hate gloomy days and long nights. Nicker, it is very hard to be positive. Yesterday I went to church and had a wonderful experience there. Afterwards, I stopped by my daughter's house to chat for a few, and before I knew it, I was talking about Joe and crying my eyes out. She was very kind and comforting, but I just feel so rotten. You are not alone.

I used to love winter when Jim was alive but now I can't wait for it to leave. We have been lucky this year to have had no real big snows yet here in Wisconsin. I am just glad the holidays are over. I do admit I get depressed when Christmas comes and there is no Jim to share it with. I cry more too. If that's not negative I don't know what is.....

I miss taking naps with Connan in the winter and feeling his warmth next to me. It was so much easier and nicer to fall asleep with him holding me in the winter than the summer (something about being really hot or fairly cold here).

-Drew

I'm a former negative person who constantly slips back to her old ways. It's very hard. Especially now with the recession going on. Sometimes all I hear is doom and gloom.

We all have those days when everything seems wrong, the clouds don't have a silver lining, the sun does not come out, the weather outside is gloomy and cold and you are angry at the world. It's Ok to have those days because without the bad days how do you know when you are have a great day!

Although I have always been a very positive, optimistic person by nature - it is indeed not easy to feel positive when you have suffered the loss of the most important person in your life. What I do to fight negative feelings is to continually focus on all the good things that ARE still left in my life. That is, in my case, a wonderful supportive network of family and friends. I know that there are some who do not have even that. In other words, try to count your blessings, even when it seems impossible to do so. Just this second my phone rang and it was a very dear old friend of mine who has suffered with MS for over 30 years. She is in a wheelchair and has to have an aide live in with her. She is the nicest, most lovely woman I know. She too has a good family around her. She faces her challenges with a positive spirit and I have always admired her for that. She called today, because I reached out to her yesterday to wish her a good new year. That is how you maintain your sanity - think of those less fortunate, BE a friend in order to HAVE a friend. Stay strong in the face of all adversity.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and all that yada yada yada.
Glors