{"id":18565,"date":"2016-02-21T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=18565"},"modified":"2016-02-20T12:13:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T17:13:11","slug":"beating-the-winter-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=18565","title":{"rendered":"Beating the Winter blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em><strong>On those dark, cold days a few ideas to brighten things<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong><\/span>, <span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><em>Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/KellyColumn415Newest815-251x300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1290191\" src=\"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/KellyColumn415Newest815-251x300.jpg\" alt=\"KellyColumn415Newest815\" width=\"210\" height=\"251\" \/><\/a>Surviving the winter season with <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> positive attitude can be difficult. When the days are grey and cold, it\u2019s hard to gather the strength to get out of <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> warm bed in the morning. Battling the winter blues requires <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> bit of effort. Let\u2019s hold that groundhog to his promise of an early Spring, but in the meantime, here are my thoughts for conquering the next few weeks:<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\">Exercise <\/span>\u00ad I<span class=\"s1\"> know! Nothing like starting off the list with something hard core&#8230;but, the endorphin rush of elevating your heart rate is <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> guaranteed mood lifter. Don\u2019t blame the messenger, this is <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> scientific fact. Not only is it <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> good idea for the obvious health benefits, but meeting up with friends at the gym can distract from the monotony of the daily routine. My girlfriend and <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> work out for about an hour and then go to Country Butcher to split <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> greek omelette and whine about the weather. It makes me feel 100% better.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Beating-the-Winter-Blues--240x300.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-1290193 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Beating-the-Winter-Blues--240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Beating the Winter Blues\" \/><\/a><span class=\"s1\">Buy something cute <\/span>\u00ad<span class=\"s1\"> Ummm, they don\u2019t call it retail \u201ctherapy\u201d for nothin. I\u2019m not suggesting that you splurge on <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> Louis Vuitton, or anything\u037e however, <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> new lip gloss or nail polish or t\u00adshirt can brighten the gloomiest of days. My husband hates this particular suggestion because when <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> say that <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> \u201cjust have to run into Target for <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> few household supplies\u201d it usually results in <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> little pick\u00adme\u00adup item thrown in for good measure. Whoopsie.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Light <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> candle <\/span>\u00ad<span class=\"s1\"> The fact that the days are slowly (but surely) getting longer means that <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> am waiting until 6pm to put on my pajamas (instead of 4:30pm). So glam over here. <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> can\u2019t help it! When it\u2019s dark, <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> like to be cozy&#8230;that includes lighting multiple candles like we are Amish. The progression of the season is evident in the scent that <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> prefer. Right now, <\/span>I<span class=\"s1\"> have transitioned from <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> heavier, winter spice to <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> light, fruity fragrance because it NEEDS TO BE SPRINGTIME, ASAP.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\">Plan <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> vacation <\/span>\u00ad<span class=\"s1\"> Googling tropical destinations when the windchill hovers in the single digits is one of my favorite pastimes. Even if the dream vacation never materializes, the simple act of planning an escape is therapeutic. Pinterest is <\/span>a<span class=\"s1\"> great website for fantasizing and gathering inspiration.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What do YOU do to fight the winter blues? Please, leave your suggestions in the comment section below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Happy Weekend!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On those dark, cold days a few ideas to brighten things By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times Surviving the winter season with a positive attitude can be difficult. When the days are grey and cold, it\u2019s hard to gather the strength to get out of a warm bed in the morning. Battling the winter blues [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1290191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[7148,1323,7147],"class_list":["post-18565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-life-improvement","tag-options","tag-winter-blues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18567,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18565\/revisions\/18567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}