Blah. I feel so de-energized and unfocused.

We just came back from a lovely vacation in Greece and Turkey. Blue waters, beautiful food, sunshine, wandering days, and I was just so pumped by it all. Felt great and healthy and sparkly.

Now I'm just blah. The winter days are getting shorter and shorter, the sky is grey and the trees are leafless. It's cold and dreary. I just feel totally numb and unmotivated.

I work outside so I get exercise and whatever little daylight there is, but from morning till night I feel like I'm sleepwalking.

I've just got to get going. I need to find some umph. I'm umphless. We're moving across the world to China Dec. 27 and I need to start sorting things and taking care of various business and paperwork and details and last minute dr. and dentist appts....but, umm, I'm doing nothing.

Anybody have any hot girlfriend recipes for pep and motivation? Special tricks to get yourself moving? I need help.

I hear you - and can I relate, especially at this time of year when there's such little sunlight to help boost our energy and morale.

I suspect that part of the lack of umph has to do with the overwhelmedness of your impending move! I find that when the list of things to do is too overwhelming, I can't do anything at all. So I have to break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and deal with each chunk of chores before moving onto the next. And no matter how hectic it might get, I make sure to take my afternoon nap, even if it's only for 10 minutes to just close my eyes and think about NOTHING.

The other thing I do is reward myself often. For example, when I'm trying to get myself motivated to do a chunk of those chores, I promise myself a piece of chocolate, or a hot cup of tea, or an hour on BWS as a reward...that works so well, that I often end up doing TWO chunks of chores before the reward!

Maybe set aside different times of the day for different tasks. For instance, do the paperwork and phone calls in the morning, when you're more likely to have the energy and find people in their offices.

Lately I've been surprising myself by jumping out of bed earlier than normal and puttering around upstairs before even taking my shower and dressing for the day. I've never had the energy to do that before, but it's working well for me now...since I have the energy, it seems like a good time to put it to good use, doing all those puttery things that I never seem to have time to do otherwise.

Anyway, I hope some of that helps. My number one trick? Reward yourself - often!

Mrs. Madness, I just thought of something else that helps motivate me, though it won't work for everyone. You probably know that I love to pray for people; well, I combine that with my distaste for housework and umphlessness for chores! In other words, I pray while I work: for homeless people while vacuuming, hungry children while doing the dishes, the cold & lonely while doing laundry, and I especially pray for all of my loved ones who have given us all of the knick-knacks that I now have to dust! LOL.

It's a little trick that works well for me - it turns these tedious chores into meaningful opportunities to think of others in need...and it's surprising (and endearing) to hear that little Voice whispering in my ear who to pray for...

Mrs. Madness, I have been watching the new Survivor TV Show and it is taking place in China. They show much of the culture, the food and the very green beautiful countryside. You are moving to a beautiful place from what I have seen, maybe looking forward to the newness and the excitement of seeing the sites and meeting the people will perk you up a bit. I have the blahs a lot as well without much sunshine. I did buy three special light bulbs that mimic true sunlight and what a difference they make...all positive.

What about a massage session..or A good beauty treatment.
Mountain ash

I recently went through a bout of being inmobile myself. I HAD to get the house ready for company and wasn't in the mood. I HAD to force myself to clean, cook, move furntiure so I could set up a bedroom and blah, blah, blah.

All of a sudden my life coaching skills kicked in and I remembered that there is nothing that I really HAD to do and looked for the "I want to" in the situation. A mindset change really helped me. Maybe it could help you too?