I think November is my least favorite month, and this year is proving to be no exception. One of the things I like least about November is that I am forced to accept that the warm weather is over. Things are getting cold. My garden is dead. It makes me sad. It’s also the start of those gray days that last until April.
The days get short, too, and I lose all productivity. I’m one of those people whose wakefulness is directly tied to whether or not the sun is up. When it’s dark, I’m unconscious. That’s how it works. Confound that with the endless overcast, and I’m worthless 24-7.
November marks the beginning of the holiday season, which to me is more like the guilt season. The holidays are a troubling time for me, not that I don’t enjoy spending them with my family, but that I often wind up spending them with my husband’s family, some of whom (well, one in particular) I really don’t enjoy being around. But each year, I am obligated to spend time with these people, with whom I would not associate except for that they’re family. Then there’s the other holiday obligations: office parties, gift giving, card sending, all those things I don’t have time to do (in part because I can’t stay awake past 6pm).
Put this on top of the fact that November has got to be the busiest month of my year. I’m teaching introductory geology and this is the time of semester when my students start to realize that they might not be getting the grades they want, and start invading my office and my inbox more often. Plus, students are registering for next semester and my inbox has all those e-mails too.
I usually have a professional meeting somewhere in October or November, which takes me out of the office for a week, putting me in full-blown catch-up mode for weeks after. But it’s always a great meeting, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything.
And just when life seems complex enough, November is also National Novel Writing Month, and I am in the habit of participating in that madness (write a 50k word novel in a month!) each year. And for novelty, this year I’m also participating in National Blog Posting Month, which means a blog post every day.
These last two things I could drop, sure. But they’re fun, so I do them. (My husband doesn’t think so much of them, since I keep disappearing to go write, but whatever, right?) Even without NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, November would still be miserable.
December will be here soon enough, and will be slightly less awful (classes end before Christmas, so I at least get a bit of a break). I find January to be a renewing and I come back to life sometime in March. So I’ve got some difficult months before me, but I’ll survive. Winter hasn’t killed me yet!
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist 