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MOMENTS OF JOY FOUND IN WINTER “SAD”NESS

seasonal affective disorder is sometimes as brutal as the weather

There’s a winter lull that starts after New Year’s Day and ends around the time pitchers and catchers report. Cozy season, they call it. I call it temporada comatosa.

Winters in New York can be brutal. As I write this, the “real feel” temperature in the Lower Hudson Valley is negative two. My driveway is an ice rink. Going to the mailbox is like a Winter Olympics sport. I check “informed delivery” on the USPS website to see if anything in today’s mail is worth breaking a hip. When I let my dog outside to do his business, I have to pick up his poop the second it drops so it doesn’t freeze and become a shit-slosh if and when the snow ever melts.

I have groceries delivered. I work from home. I work from home most of the time, but sometimes I like to switch it up and work at a coffee shop, restaurant, or park in Manhattan. But NOT in winter. January 3rd is my birthday, and after that, I rarely leave the house. And I’m not alone in my reclusivity.

January and February are peak months for Seasonal Affective Disorder, appropriately abbreviated as SAD. About ten million Americans experience SAD every year. It’s a type of depression and inactivity caused by things like post-holiday blues, frigid weather, and reduced exposure to sunlight. Aside from using a therapy box or increasing your intake of Vitamin D, the best thing you can do to treat SAD symptoms is to get outside, breathe in a little fresh air, and stand in some direct sunlight. Basically, you have to actively go out and find the JOY to combat the SAD. So that’s exactly what I did.

Here – in no particular order – are nine things that helped to combat this year’s seasonal blues.

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1. Laughing with friends and family during a birthday celebration at Cosimos. If you’re visiting the Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets, Cosimos is right up the road, and WAY better than any of the food options inside the outlet mall.

2. A hand-made calligraphy birthday card from my neighbor Kristen’s son Michael. This kid is brilliantly talented….so artistic and incredibly smart. He’s the next Steve Jobs. And Kristen gave me a vintage turntable and disco album for my birthday. She gets me.

3. A picturesque train ride into the city for an appointment with my botox doctor. I’ve been seeing Dr. Yuiry Yagudin at Dermacare Medical for over ten years now. He’s never given me a bad treatment or too much “tox.” There have been procedures I’ve asked about that he flat out said, “NO! You won’t look like yourself.” I trust him. And that’s why I ventured into Manhattan on one of the coldest days of the year.

4. A visit to my old neighborhood restaurant. I lived on Tiemann Place near Riverside Park when Pisticci first opened in the early 2000s. Thrilled to see it still thriving when I popped in for a Saturday brunch. The cute donkey sculpture AT the bar and the espresso martini FROM the bar left me feeling giddy and nostalgic for the old ‘hood.

5. Snow “ghosts” in my deck chairs. They’ve been there for almost a month now and I’ve nicknamed them Jingle and Jangle from the The Year Without a Santa Claus. I can hear the Snow Miser singing and see him dancing in my head every time I walk by the sliding glass doors.

6. The fried risotto balls at Bourbon and Branch by Penn Station. I discovered these a couple of months ago when my niece Olivia and I were in the city vintage shopping and now I’m obsessed. Also, this restaurant is gorgeous and the top level overlooks the new construction in what was once the Hotel Pennsylvania.

7. Central Park when it snows. No matter how cold it is, it’s always magical.

8. Live Ska-Jazz at The Falcon. I went to see the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble (the OGs of Ska-Jazz!) on New Year’s Day. They were spectacular and I didn’t stop smiling all night.

9. Catching up with Atlanta friends at Jack’s Wife Freda. My friend Dewayne and I met way back in 1995 when we were cast in a theatre production at Onstage Atlanta called, “Oh Scrooge! A Chainsaw Chorus Line Christmas Carol!” We’ve been close ever since, and I’m so glad I get to see him and Will whenever he’s in town.

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