Am I Really Looking for My Mojo at the Luby’s Lost and Found?

The holiday decorations are packed away, the Christmas lights are down, creating a mug-worthy street, and the idea of getting up before seven a.m. seems barbaric.

Ah yes, January, the coldest, darkest, biggest let down of all the twelve months. The month of January is like that person at a cocktail party droning on about how they replaced the siding on their home. You nod politely and deal with it, just so you can get to the Swedish meatballs. No way around it but through it.

It is this time of year that gives me a raging case of the “blahs.” Much like a perennial plant, I shut down for the winter.

To put it simply, I’ve lost my mojo people.

If you too have lost your “umph,” you probably need it back. We have stuff to do! But where the hell did it go?

Not to fear, I’ve come up with a list of possible situations that probably syphoned the mojo right out of you.

Shall we?

The Holidays. To me, the month of December means, “Run like your pants are on fire!” I did, and now I need to wrap myself in a tinfoil blanket and drink some recovery fluid. MOJO LOST: 9.8 points.
The Weather. Everywhere you look, it is cold and overcast. That’s fine when you are snuggling up with a hot toddy in front of a blazing fire, but not when you are trying to warm up your car in crop stretchy-pants. Thumbs down. MOJO LOST: 5 points.
All the Crap You put off for Two and a Half Months. From October 31^st to January 1 – nothing gets fixed in my home. Leaky faucet? That can stay. Dirty carpet? We’ll clean it after the holidays. Expired Cheez-Its? Hmm, they aren’t that bad. Time to take care of it all. MOJO LOST: 7 points.
I swear they don’t go bad.
Arguing with Self/Child/Spouse/Randoms about Going Back to Work/School. Self-explanatory and exhausting. MOJO LOST: 3.5 points.
Shopping for Boring Stuff. Over the holidays we bought fun food and wine for parties and entertaining; we bought shiny gifts for others; and we bought sequenced mittens because they were on sale (shhhhh). Now we have to keep shopping, but for things that are nowhere near as exciting as December’s sundries. Like lettuce and soap. MOJO LOST: 8 points.
Procrastination. Last month I had a viable excuse to not work on my screenplay, answer an email, or sew on all the missing buttons on my child’s clothes. Now I have to get cracking. MOJO LOST: 10.5 points.

So how did Stella get her groove back and how can we get ours?

I think it has something to do with Nike’s slogan, Just Do It! But with the addition of the piped in tough love from my military father.

Don’t want to write a chapter? Too bad, I didn’t want to fight in Nam, but I did. Just do it!

Don’t want to take that Zumba class? Isn’t that just a bunch of old ladies shaking their hips? I don’t blame you, but you did load up on the mashed potatoes this year. Just do it!

Don’t want to go back to work? I thought you just filed a bunch of crap and drank coffee from Starbuck’s? Doesn’t sound too hard, quit complaining. Just do it!