A few reasons why November is the most depressing month of the year:

• It is getting colder, not as much fun being outdoors. Bleugh.
• The green of the trees has left.  The leaves have fallen.  All that’s left are bare sticks. Bleugh.
• Grass and ground plants are turning brown.  Bleugh.
• There is no white snow yet to brighten up the landscape. Bleugh.
• Days are getting shorter, so there is less light. Bleugh.
• Cloud cover makes the shorter days and the browner barren landscape, making it all even bleughier.

We are in the final stages of setting up a solar power generation system on our land (You can read about it at http://www.solarontarioblog.ca)  Until we saw the month solar radiation stats, we did not realize just how cloudy November is.

See this graph:

Consider that December 21 is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year.  That means that December should have the least hours of sunshine, weather excluded.  Because the 21st is closer to January than to November, January should have the second-fewest hours of sunlight, and November should have the third-fewest hours of sunlight.

November is the perfect time to do purposeful things to add some uplift to your days.  In our household, that has meant some games of air hockey, trips to the library and board games – family things we can do together that encourage laughter and smiles.

How do you plan to blow away the clouds of November?

Note: I have cross-posted this (sort of) over at November – Solar Power’s Doldrums.