February is the cruelest month (except for July)

It happens every year so I ought to be prepared but I'm not. Call it the Cruelest Month Malaise, a bout of existential despair that hits every year in February and July and sometimes in November. February is bad because of the weather and the darkness and huge pile of work and the lack of holidays, and November is bad for the same reasons except for the warmth and light that Thanksgiving provides. In both months, the workload piles up while motivation loses itself in a maze of conflicting demands or dwindles in the deepening darkness that is winter.

July is different: plenty of sunshine, plenty of fresh vegetables in the garden, plenty of hummingbirds and butterflies and reasons to be outdoors. What July does not provide plenty of is time. July is like an annual midlife crisis: I realize that the summer is half over but I've finished only a fraction of what I needed to do, and meanwhile I'm itching to take a break from all my hard work but I can't slow down because August is coming. July is when I want to throw my hands in the air and say "What's the use?" but I have to make myself keep functioning efficiently or I'll suffer in August when classes and committee work commence.

So here I sit in my office in the waning days of July waiting for motivation to strike so I can start working my way through my immense to-do list, but instead of working, I'm hosting my own private pity party. Kind of pathetic, don't you think? Let's see if a collective sigh can purge the midsummer malaise. All right, everybody, on my count: one, two, three, deep cleansing breath, and now let's sigh it all out. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....that's the way.

Now be glad it's not February and get back to work.