Perhaps it’s a chemical imbalance, but I am a moody, sensitive person. Since my return from the HLS I’ve been in a funk with a big old capital “F.” This probably seems weird because it was a motivating conference for bloggers and all of that. But here’s the thing, as an unemployed teacher I’ve had the summer to devote to planning the Summit.

As a teacher, I was able to enjoy the summer without really being reminded that I had no job because I wouldn’t have been working anyway. Now, the Summit is over and “Back to School” is everywhere. The time of year that is usually my favorite is now a cruel joke.

Well I returned home on Sunday night and now it’s Wednesday afternoon. I’ve eaten a lot of HLS “swag” and some delicious chocolate chip pancakes (from a mix), but not many fresh fruits or veggies. I haven’t felt like going to the gym or yoga. Yes, I am in a funk and I am not interested in it getting any worse.

Here is a list of things I am trying to avoid:

• Forgetting what the outside looks like.
• Gradual, slow weight gain.
• Wearing the same thing to bed that I wore all day long.
• Staring at my computer all day.
• Not knowing what day of the week it is.
• Being collected by a collection agency.

Following up on Cultivate the Opposite, here are my tips to avoid that downward spiral to the dark side.

• Make a plan - I think “To Do” Lists are awesome. I plan to keep a master list that I will check every day. I will cross things out and add to it as I go. I really think having things to do and cross off will make me feel better about life. Therefore, anything I need to do gets added to the list … wash clothes, blog, check out new Baby Sitter’s Club books, etc.
• Get dressed - I absolutely must wake up and take a shower to start the day, otherwise I will feel like a slug. If I choose to go to the gym in the morning, that’s fine, but I have 30 minutes in the morning to make a choice – gym or shower. I will also wear clothes without elastic waistbands at least half of the days of the week.
• Leave the house - Every single day I must step outside, even if it’s just to walk to the corner. This is an issue of sanity people.
• Interact with humans - This will be tougher because (1) I don’t have a lot of friends here; (2) friends have jobs; (3) friends have money to do fun things, but I think it’s important to interact with humans daily. I foresee the supermarket employees and I getting really tight.
• Keep routines - No matter what, I think it’s really important to treat a weekday like a work day, and treat those days differently from a weekend.
• Swallow your pride - I like to pride myself on my noble decision to quit being a lawyer to become a teacher, but nobility and pride don’t pay the bills. I will continue my traditional teacher job search, but starting today I am expanding my horizons. My blog does not make enough money for me to live on, but I can take this time to work on it more and make it better. I’ve also (as of moments ago) made a “blogging/writing” resume and am looking for similar jobs. Some may view this as selling out, but I like to write and maybe I can make some money doing it.
• Watch Oprah’s final season - Of course I want a job, but I can still appreciate that I can watch Oprah and others cannot. In other words, I am thinking of this time as “reverse retirement.” When everyone else I know is old and retired, I will be old and working so I should probably enjoy it now.
• Make a game of $ saving - Is there nothing better than learning how much money you’ve saved at the market? Maybe that’s just me, but I am going to see if I can apply that feeling to other areas of life. Money saving will be my new mission in life.
• Eat meals - It’s really tempting to snack my way through a day, but at the end of the day I feel worse about life if I’ve just eaten junk. I enjoy the process of cooking and eating, so while it might seem luxurious I am going to treat meal time like a fun time.
• Meditate - Okay so I am not a mediating person. I love the mental and spiritual part of yoga, but that’s because it doesn’t take too long and someone is making me do it. We’ve been learning about how important meditating is to growing as a yogi, and I have to admit, I’m really interested. My teacher explained it like this … in the end you can only count on yourself. In the end you will only be by yourself. You should spend some time getting to know yourself. So, I’ll give it a whirl, starting with 1 minute a day.

As I’ve done none of the above today (other than make that resume I talked about), I will have to start tomorrow.