Dealing with the January Scaries
In December I’m always really excited for the fresh start that January brings, and then the year changes and I’m hit with the January scaries. I felt like it was particularly bad this year - even though I knew logically not a lot was going to change overnight, I guess I subconsciously really bought into the new year, new outlook, new me… and then everything was the same except I didn’t have an excuse to eat Christmas cookies every day and night. I’ve been feeling pretty blah, and at first I was like what is wrong with me?! And then I remembered that this happened last year too! So I guess it’s something I can just go ahead and expect at this point. If you’re like me and feel like you’re just now finally pulling out of a weeks long funk, I have a few ideas for getting through it a little better next year.
- Embrace it. It’s fine to not hit the ground running January 2nd. I probably logged the same amount of working hours in Q4 as I did the other ¾ of the year. While the holidays are always fun, I wouldn’t necessarily categorize them as ‘restful’ or ‘refreshing’, and this weird year was particularly different. Even though taking a vacation in January isn’t always realistic, it isn’t unreasonable to cut myself a little slack, and try not to overload the first couple weeks of the month with lots of goals and expectations. Sometimes doing the bare minimum is fine
- Have something to look forward to. This can be as small as ordering a few treats for yourself online to be delivered in January. Focusing on the things I’m excited about helps me pull out and remember that this isn’t going to be forever.
- Journal! I hope nobody ever finds my journal, because it’s honestly just a book of complaints most of the time, but it’s so helpful to write that stuff down and then let it go.
Do you get this way in January too? It can feel like I’m the only one who isn’t greeting the new year with open arms and renewed optimism, but I am betting I’m probably not! How do you ride out the scaries?
