Simple fixes to cabin fever

Have a little cabin fever? Take a deep breath, sip some coco and read this blog.

I’m not sure if claustrophobia and cabin fever are closely linked, but I suspect that they are.

And I have no doubt that I suffer from both conditions. I never used to be claustrophobic, but over the past few years crowds make me anxious. I avoid crowded elevators, go to grocery store at off hours, and I chug a couple of PBRs before I go to any live music events. I just can’t handle the crowds.

And on snow days like this, my own house seems to be little crowded. Batman and Gunther, our cat and dog are a little feistier since it’s too cold for them to burn off energy outside. The sound of my husband snoring in front of the TV seems a little louder and a lot less adorable than it does on Sunday afternoons. Between the barking, meowing, snoring and voices of Swamp People blaring through our surround sound I can’t seem to put together a coherent thought.

I am a daily work-from-home gal. I just want my regular routine back.

And perhaps this Snowmegettan wouldn’t seem so overwhelming if we hadn’t just gotten over the Ear Infectionpocolipis last week. And my husband insists his ear infection isn’t completely healed. I’m not sure how long he thinks he can get away with using this as an excuse for not hearing anything I say. I’m guessing he might try to stretch out the ear infection thing to March Madness. Once March Madness starts my voice increases to a volume he can no longer deny hearing.

But, I digress. The truth is snow storms, close quarters, and reminders of global climate change are all triggers for anxiety for me.

How can I get my car out of my drive way tomorrow? How can I get my husband to stop snoring and wake up? How can reduce my carbon footprint?

These are all questions I asked myself this afternoon. And surprisingly I found answers to these questions as I started this blog.

1. The driveway will have to be shoveled if we are going anywhere tomorrow. This is common sense, I know, but during times of anxiety common sense leaves me.
2. The husband may feel manly and needed if I ask him to shovel the drive way. Or he may just say “Ugghh,” and do it anyways. Either way the snoring will stop and he will have to get dressed for the day.
3. And as for the carbon footprint thing. There are tons of ways to lesson my imprint. I can continue working from home, buy local meat and produce, and buy less prepackaged drinks. Arizona Tea seems to be our weakness.

These are simple solutions that are baby steps in many ways. Baby steps to decreasing my anxiety. Baby steps to slowing global climate change. Baby steps that make all the difference.

The underlying cause of nearly all of my anxiety is a feeling of helplessness, a lack of control.

I can’t always stop our dog howling, and have no sway over the weather, but I can chose how I react to these conditions. I can be the change, at least within my own sphere of influence.

I can bribe Gunther to quite down with cold cuts. I can fix hot chocolate for Logan and I as we watch the snow outside. I can remind the flood of questions going through my mind to take a chill pill by actually taking a chill pill. Klonopin works wonders during times like these.

When you start to feel anxious, whether it be cabin fever or just a trip to Target on a Saturday, I encourage you to write down your anxious thoughts and see if you can find simple solutions to the problems, or ways to debunk your irrational thoughts.

This seems to help me. Particularly if I do the exercise while drinking hot cocoa. Cheers to the first big Kansas snow storm of the year.