As the owner of Royally Enchanted princess and character parties in Colorado, I know a thing or two about magic and fairy tales. But let me tell you, there's nothing enchanted about the dreary season. It's that time of year when the excitement of New Year's has worn off, but spring hasn't quite arrived yet. And for me, it means everything is a hot mess.
You see, when business is slow, and everyone is stuck inside, it's easy to let things get away from you. It seems like you have endless projects and plenty of time, but I can't peel my butt off the couch.... And that's exactly what has happened to me! The costumes are cluttered, the props are scattered, and I don't have the energy to do a single thing about it. It's dark, it's cold, there are gluten free Oreos, and "Better Call Saul" on Netflix.
But it's not just the costume, wig, and prop rooms that are suffering. My house looks like a tornado hit it, with toys scattered everywhere, half finished projects piled on most available surfaces, never ending laundry piling up, and an Adderall shortage. A deadly mix.
And then there are the kids. It seems like every other day, one of them is coming down with some new sickness and sharing it with everyone. Is a sneeze really sneezed if it does not go into an open mouth or straight into your eyeballs? And, as parents, we are trying to make their childhood memories magical. I have 3 boys. Their magic is snowboarding at Keystone (skiing with your kids sucks. You spend half the time looking behind you to make sure that they haven't flown into a tree and then you end up spraining your neck and/or eating it), going to support their hockey/football games, and next weekend we're going to Monster Jam! yippie.
So what do I do to combat the dreary season blues? Well, I've come up with a few tricks that might just help you too.
Get moving. I go to either Pure Barre or Kick House in Parker everyday. If I don't put myself in some sort of horrifying stress position that the FBI uses to interrogate prisoners or beat the ever-loving crap out of something daily, the world will burn. I mostly go to the gym to see my PB or KH friends and talk trash and then go get a $6.00 cold brew from Starbucks, and then go to Allie's house and we talk about nothing for a few hours.
Get creative. Buy an extremely expensive piece of machinery and/or a whole bunch of craft supplies and start a new hobby (I bought a glowforge a few weeks ago)! Learn all you can about the hobby and then... then abandon it. That's right, just do something until it's 75% complete and then totally lose your train of thought and go to hobby lobby to accidentally pick up needlepoint or something.
Connect with others. See Tip #1. We type *purple people will find the super anal-retentive type A people and either marry them or make them our work spouse. Allie is my work wife. I tell her about all of the things that I have to do and then I think about all the new and shiny things that I can do, and she tries to keep me from starting another project from Tip #2. Sometimes she is successful, usually she is not.
And as for the costume crush, project projectile vomit, work wallow? I'll tackle that mess another day. For now, I'm just focusing on making it through the dreary season.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy dreary season! And remember, even when life gets a little chaotic, there's always magic to be found.
*What is a "Type Purple" person? You have your classic type A people; those who are methodical, organized, and literal. "Type B" people; those who are creative and expressive but tend to be disorganized and a bit scattered. Then you have "Type Purple". They are type B people that take it to the extreme. We are the tempest that drowns everything in glitter and glue, solves world hunger and war, writes a symphony, then gets distracted by a shiny object and forgets about it all and then falls down a creativity hole... never to be seen or heard from again.