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Rochester Local

Groundhog Day: Stuck in the Loop

groundhogGroundhog Day is upon is.  That means it’s February, and Punxsutawney Phil, the legendary groundhog of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania will tell us whether or not we can expect an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter.  But of course, we live in Minnesota.  There is ALWAYS 6 more weeks of winter!

This time of year my life starts to feel more like Groundhog Day the movie.  You’ve seen it, right?  Bill Murray plays a self-absorbed TV weatherman who is a complete jerk to everyone he comes in contact with.  He heads to Punxsutawney to cover the annual Groundhog Day events.  While there, he somehow ends up in a time loop and relives Groundhog Day over and over again.  Same overly-chipper morning people peppering him with questions, same irritating salesmen badgering him on the sidewalk, steps in the same slushy puddle,  witnesses the same ridiculous overgrown rodent “predicting” Spring’s arrival, same EVERYTHING over and over and over again.

In my own version of Groundhog Day, every day more or less feels the same. Same cold, flat gray skies.  Same piles of laundry.  Same battles with kids about wearing snow pants to the bus stop, picking their toys up off the floor, or putting shoes and coats away. Every week I make the same 2 lunches for school because any departure from those standard two means the uneaten lunch comes right back home. Every day we do the same wintertime struggle in and out of coats and boots. I hear the same stories of not knowing where the lost mittens went, and the same promises to check the Lost & Found at school. I don’t regularly step in slushy mud puddles, but it’s not uncommon for me to encounter a pee puddle next to the toilet. This time of year brings the same annoyances of dry winter skin, dull hair, and workout slump.  Same crappy “selection” of fruit at the grocery store because February is a garbage month and everything is out of season.

As I wallow, I start to even more identify with Bill Murray’s character:  There he was, fulfilling his stupid work assignment with his annoying new boss.  He’s going about his own business, being cold and snippy with everyone around him when *WHAMMO* he finds himself in a time loop.  He wakes up in the same podunk little town, with the same annoying people, going about their same irritating activities, peppering him with questions and canned pleasantries.  Meanwhile over here, I’m going about my business doing the same stupid things, with the same garbage attitude, being irritated by everyone around me, trying to get to the bottom of my same stupid never-ending to-do list.  And then *WHAMMO* I feel like I’m being punished with my own personal Groundhog Day scenario.

I just don’t get it!  I have an admittedly subpar attitude and was maybe a little (ahem) more snippy than usual, put in the minimum amount of effort necessary, and yet my days and weeks don’t magically turn around?  What gives?!?  I mean, I ate like crap and skipped workouts because I was crabby and felt like a sloth, and then had no energy even though I was carb-and-sugar-and-caffeine-loading (and crashing) like it was my job.  And sleep?  Well yeah, I sleep, although sometimes it was interrupted by the kids, and sometimes interrupted by that 7pm coffee I warmed up in the microwave to just get through till bedtime, and then sometimes I stayed up way too late watching Netflix.  But I’m supposed to do “me time,” right?  Eating more junk on the couch after everyone’s bedtime (including mine) counts, right?!

Uh oh.  Turns out that both Bill Murray and I get stuck in loops that are mostly self-inflicted.

Movie Spoiler Alert: He eventually gets out of the time loop when he chooses to use his time to better himself and the lives of those around him, and becomes truly content with exactly where he is and the day that he has in front of him.  The answer is probably the same for me.  

Maybe February isn’t a garbage month after all–maybe my attitude is the actual garbage.  Instead of slumping through the doldrums of winter, wishing it away, what if I instead focused on using this time to better myself and the lives of those around me?  I bet you and I both know the answer!  Continuing the same garbage patterns will continue to produce the same garbage.  This should come as no surprise, yet somehow it always sneaks up on me.  But the inverse of this equation will also be true: approaching this time of year with a positive attitude and a plan for bettering myself and those around me will produce positive things.

So this year in preparation for Groundhog Day (because it’s coming, like it or not), I’m posting my goals for 2019 on my bathroom mirror.  Not resolutions, but attainable, measurable goals.  When I feel those Groundhog Day feelings creeping up, I’m going to really try to not wallow in my garbage thought patterns.  Instead, I’m going to look at those goals, posted there in plain sight, and see what little ways I can work at them:  taking time to read a real book, sneak in a workout wherever I can, try a new recipe for supper, make a coffee or dinner date with my husband, call a friend, do a random act of kindness for someone else, etc.  These are things that will help me be content with exactly where I am and the day that I have in front of me, regardless of what the calendar or weather says.

The good news is that we aren’t caught in a time loop, and February will come and go.  Groundhog Day is just one day, and spring WILL come– even if it is 6- or 12!- more weeks away.  Take care of yourselves!

*Originally published January 2019*

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