L.M. Montgomery was no stranger to the feeling of “post-Christmas blues” that often confront those going back to work or school this week. Even in her days as a student at Dalhousie University, Maud had to psyche herself up for the routine responsibilities of life lived not on holiday time.

On Jan. 7, 1896, she wrote,

“College opens tomorrow and I am not a bit glad. I’ve got lazy and contented in vacation and don’t like the idea of starting in to struggle again. It must be, however, so I have religiously set my alarm clock for seven and intend to ‘buckle to’ with all due ‘grit’.

It has been gruesomely cold these last three days. I believe winter is really upon us at last and the next two months are likely to prove mortifying to the flesh. Well, well, I suppose I must give up my novels and my mornings naps and all the other vacation indulgences and return to hard, systematic work.”

To read more of Maud’s musings, take a look at The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume I: 1889-1910, as well as her other journals.