Avoiding the June Blues

The key to my sanity

Last year once June came around, I did not handle it well. Believe it or not, I went through a month
long depression. If you know me, you know I'm extremely upbeat. If you are a consistent reader of this blog, you know I love life.

So it hit me like a ton of bricks, when for a month, I didn't want to do anything. We had one of the nicest ten day stretches in recent memory. Every day was about 70 degrees without any humidity. It was perfect. I spent most of that time inside. I alluded to it in a post I did last year. 

http://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2015/06/go-big-or-stay-home.html   

As I wrote in the post, I have so much fun in the spring. Other than albie fishing, my favorite things to do are in the spring. What I now realize happened:was for six weeks, I was on an euphoric high. Then really warm weather came, Stripers left the bay, birds had migrated through, and trout fishing around here was all but over. The last weekend in May I did the exact same thing I did this year. I had a great time birding in Plum Island and I caught hundreds of Black Sea Bass in Buzzards Bay. It was the highlight of my spring. Then it was over... It was like coming down from the high. I don't joke about mental illness as I know people that suffer through chronic depression. But I am sure I suffered with a short bout of it.

 I felt much "better" on days off since I could do real day trips. I hit Prudence Island. I went to Sturbridge Village. It was the sitting in my house after work, and worse, not finding a reason to leave, that really sucked.

So, as you can imagine, I am preparing myself, to enjoy the summer more this year. I have no plan to go through that again. I came up with what I think will be an effective gameplan.

1. I planned my vacation for June. It is my first vacation since 2014. Last year, the person that covers my days off left. Taking the trip in June works out.

2. I'm going to go to New Hampshire at least once on my weekend to hike.

3. I really enjoyed my garden last year. I have a slightly bigger one this year. 

4. I'm going to take trips to the ocean. Even taking the drive after work once in a while. If I'm catching stripers in the summer, which is what I did all spring, then that is a huge emotional lift. 

5. I'm still in pretty good shape. However, I've put on some of the weight I lost two year ago. So I'm going to use this month to get into really good shape. This will help me on my hike in NH and I'll enjoy my vacation more. I've already started this, running two miles each of the last two nights. 

6. This is probably most important- I prepared myself this year. Although I love all my spring hobbies, I prepared myself for them to end. I put myself in a good state of mind. 

The key to this being a successful strategy is enjoying my time after work. Who wouldn't want to be on vacation or in New Hampshire? I think the searching for stripers and playing in my garden should be enough to enjoy summer evenings again. 

P.S. This post was an honest account of last June and my plan to avoid the same pitfall. Probably not the post you planned on reading, but as another blogger I read says "brutal honesty".