Thursday, June 5, 2008

what is cabin fever anyway?

Seriously! I don't know where it comes from. Well, I know where the saying comes from, but how do we let ourselves get to the point where we have cabin fever? How do we get out of it? Why must we be constantly entertained?!?!

Let us examine the developmental process of cabin fever. First, you wake up in the morning thinking that you have all the time in the world to handle all of those little tasks that pop up. With no one around taking care of similar tasks, you have less motivation to take care of them, which, coupled with your inordinate amounts of free time, makes you lay in bed a little while longer. You lazily shower and eat some sort of breakfast, maybe read, maybe play piano, check email, and other such activities that can be taken care of with little effort or motivation. After a morning (this is how long it takes me, but others may have more endurance) you begin to be a little antsy, but you aren't really sure what to do. Which of your tasks has priority? It is very difficult for me to prioritize when I am not pressed for time. Give me a schedule, and I can tell you exactly what fits where and when and why. And I'll ask for more things to fit in! But when I'm free...I'm lost!

I think the problem is partly that I have intentionally forbidden myself to drive anywhere, thus changing the act of leaving the house into a big to-do because I'd have to ride my bike. So I don't. There's that, and the fact that I have no one to call. I'm a bit lonely right now and I don't like to voice that feeling because then I think my family is going to think that I don't like them. I did voice it, though, so now my family is getting together with my dad's siblings' families so that I can re-establish contacts with my cousins so that I have someone to hang out with! Isn't my mom the greatest? That was her idea. So, yeah, I definitely do this to myself and I think the solution is to simply decide the night before that I am going to get up and choose a task and just do it without looking at the clock. It's the clock that's the kicker--'what, only ten minutes have gone by? Are you SERIOUS?--so if I just stop looking at them, maybe it'll get better.

We'll see how it goes...

Peace

No comments: