Cabin Fever

I feel like I am going to go stark raving mad if Spring doesn't arrive soon. Our house seems to be shrinking by the day and the kids seem to be bouncing off the walls with boundless energy. They are not only getting on my nerves, but also on each others nerves. Maybe even on their own nerves. I'm beginning to feel like a caged animal.

I do my best to keep them occupied, but there is just so much that you can do indoors. Puzzles, books, crafts, and activities only hold attention spans for so long. Yesterday was about 30 degrees and sunny so we ventured out for a walk. I thought that they could get some energy out and come home refreshed, yet tired. It didn't work. If anything, it seemed to recharge their batteries and make them even more wound up and raring to go. I just can't win!

But when I really start to feel sorry for myself I remind myself that I have it good. I may even have it easy! I try to remind myself of what my ancestors had to deal with. What the pioneers who settled this land had to go through in winter. Imagine a small, dark dugout...possibly without windows or only one or two small ones. Being stuck indoors for weeks at a time as the snow blows around the dugout or piles against the door. If one had children they had to try to keep them occupied with very limited resources. Maybe a board game of checkers or other homemade toys, but that was it. Many pioneers had just one book (the Bible) so they couldn't even rely on reading to keep their mind off of things or to entertain themselves.

No phones to keep in touch with relatives or friends and the mail only appeared a few times a year. No way to even get to town in the middle of winter to visit with friends or do a little shopping. They were completely isolated. I can't even imagine that life and wonder if depression was a big thing for mothers back then. Even the simple things that we take for granted such as a warm bubble bath didn't happen much in the middle of winter. Imagine trying to wash clothing in that weather and hanging it all over your small dugout to dry...I really doubt they did a whole lot of clothes washing in winter.

Meals were probably pretty much the same every day. There would be no variety with fresh fruits and vegetables. Beans and some venison or bread was probably a big staple of their life. Sugar would be rationed until they could get to town in the spring so I doubt there were even desserts most of the time.

So I will try not to complain too much about my case of cabin fever when I remember what others have gone through in the middle of winter. I am able to call my mom on the phone, write letters to friends (and receive a response within days of them mailing it off), have an outlet for my writing via this blog, pick a book off my overflowing shelves (or run to the library which is four blocks away) and read as much as I'd like, relax in front of a movie, take a warm bubble bath, get takeout if I am too lazy or tired to make supper, and the list goes on. Ahhh...the small joys in life really do count!

How are you staying sane this winter?