Have the Winter Blues Already?

With the holiday season freshly upon us northern climates, it's easy to feel that tingly bright sensation better known as cheer. Everything is cool with the world, except for that nasty credit crisis and a rotten economy. Still we manage to find the bright side of things because the words joy and hope are plastered blissfully everywhere. But once the holiday decorations are ripped down and the last Christmas tree meets its fate with a wood chipper, suddenly we turn into miserable zombies left to deal with colder temps, over inflated holiday bills not to mention the dreaded cold and flu season.

That's when our mental imbalances show their true colors and send us on a downward spiral lasting weeks, if not months. But there are ways to fight back against old man winter and prevent post holiday winter blues. Here are a few tips to stay away from the dark side.

First, if you can't beat old man winter then join him. Get outside and enjoy the winter scenery. This can be done simply by hiking some of the better cleared paths at your local park. Yes, it's cold outside but once you get moving you will realize it sure beats huddling around a space heater at home because you are too miserly to crank up your heat to normal levels. Go sledding, skiing, ice skating or just witness children playing outside and you'll see an unmistakable immunity to the cold, enough to make you want to slam yourself down into the snow and make your own snow angel.

Plan post holiday parties so you don't feel an immediate letdown. Post season football leading up to the Super Bowl plus basketball games provide excellent excuses to continue holiday style parting well through the winter. Before you know it you'll be wiping tears away from your brow wondering where the winter went.

If none of this cold winter nonsense makes any sense to you, then start stimulating the economy by hopping on a plane going to a warm destination. There are plenty of travel deals even for cold weather wimps to escape. And don't come back until you are ready to join the rest us cold winter warriors who can do without a symphony of whiny depressed weather lamenters.