By
January is always my favourite month of the year.
As I have grown through the years I have learned that it is not the same for everybody. For me it is a little easier as it is my birthday month and I look forward to my birthday each year. Mind you for a period of 10 years now my birthday has been a very mixed emotion type of day. Being a father who has buried his children there are emotions of guilt and anger that surface due to wanting to enjoy my birthday and wishing my sons could share it with me too. Though I always look forward to January as a saving type day during the winter.
My emotional well being has been through plenty of turmoil due to the facts of living with grief and emotions of loss. Such emotions can occur on any random day of the week and the month is not laid out in stone as to when such eruptions of feelings may occur.
The January blues are real for many people I have learned and that perhaps the build up to Christmas each year brings enough stress (financially & emotionally) that one may find themselves in a deep anti climax after the Christmas holidays. Coupled with the celebrations of the new year, another big build up and time of year of celebration, then what? The new year rings in and for a few days every person we meet is full of happy new year greetings. Then the anti climax occurs. No more good cheer, no more celebrations, no more distraction in life of the shop windows and Christmas lights. We could say January is like the big “Hang over” month of the year after the big party. Many must dig in deep and grind out the the time to claw back some monies squandered during the festive season. The people that you may only see around the holidays are not available to bring us the distraction any more and we are left with our own quiet. This quiet can be uncomfortable and we do not like to sit in moments quietly with our own thoughts and emotions. It is a real possibility that we as humans, some of us out there in the world, that we have a much more difficult time in January than we do in other times of the year.
I have heard of a thing called “seasonalitis” that during winter months due to lack of sunshine thus resulting in lack of vitamins from the sun that we humans can enter into depression. This alone is due to chemicals within our bodies. Double down the financial strain Christmas may have brought about and the trifecta being lack of distraction from the festivities and all the high energy buzzing around Christmas and new years. It is kind of easy to see how any person can begin to feel a little off during January.
Why write this post?
I write to bring an awareness and to offer a perspective to any person who may find themselves a little down during January. I write to you to share of how I understand these feelings of being down and not so happy and that the “January BLUES” is a very real thing. Should you find yourself not at your best, it is O. K.
It is normal and totally fine to not feel your best in the anti climax, many of us will have promised ourselves great things for the new year as “new years resolutions” and by this time of mid to end of January we may not be achieving that which we promised ourselves. This too can be a factor of bringing us down or keeping us down. Again it is totally normal and totally fine to not be feeling your best in January.
Did ya really need me to bring this up or did you know it already?
So what can we do differently? To shake em off.
Let’s begin with some simple ideas. The name given to this time of year and not feeling so good is called the January Blues. What can we think of differently to bring about a change to our mood? For me it is easy as it is my birthday month, that cannot work for everyone. Maybe you have a little smile and think of how I like to enjoy and smile on my birthday. Hey, it is good to smile, so have a smile on me.
January is the beginning of our year, 2022 this time round. And beginnings are things that we can smile about. Beginning anything is reason to be excited, who knows what this year holds in store for you. Something better and beautiful perhaps. What amazing possibilities exist in getting to have a “do over” on another year. A chance, an opportunity to reset the calendar and map out my possibilities for the year ahead. There is also a simple way to begin a little daydream. January Blues, the word blue in the title or blues, blue is the colour of the sky beyond the clouds, there is a very clear blue sky above the clouds where the sun is shinning. Take a little moment and think on this when you think of blue. Above those clouds is where you can fly and soar like and eagle, a champion, a winner. This type of daydreaming is a highly recommended daily dose of medicine for January. How you will soar, what you will achieve and how you will win are really up to you.
Blues, it is a type of music, a genre. Music, there is an idea, listen to music and allow your own spirit to dance with it. Feel the tunes, the notes, the vibe of the music and allow your hips to swing and rock from side to side, in my experience music has been a great pal and healer through times where I have felt down.
I will finish on this, the January Blues are very real and you are not the only one. There are simple tools to help us as long, become that person, become someone who is ready to begin again. We are given this choice and opportunity every day. The year of 2022 has only just begun and you have it within your power to have your most awesome year of your life. You do not have to believe me, all you have to do is give it a try.
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