January – Be Kind to Yourself

We’re nearly halfway through January and I am really rather pleased for it to be so.  January is proving to be a difficult month for all sorts of reasons, not least because of the weather which appears to be a constant stream of rain and wind.

I’ve made the decision to be kind to myself this January and I urge any reader to do the same.  January is a hard month to get through (unless you’ve got a particularly nice reason for celebrating it).

It’s like having a hangover after having the best party ever.  All through December we planned and shopped.  Friends and family came together.  We eat, we drank and we made the most of the Christmas cheer.  But now, we’ve woken up after the night before and it feels rotten!

I feel rotten every January – surprisingly so since moving to the country because the seasons are visually rawer.  The fields become waterlogged, the footpaths become impassable and the grey misty skies almost touch the ground.  The mornings are dark and the afternoons are dark.  You don’t even see many people around.

My little world becomes claustrophobic as the places I want to go become more difficult to traverse or the lack of daylight means the days are short and the nights are endless.  All in all, it’s a very sorry state of affairs.

Even the New Year intentions, become savagely hard to maintain, especially more so as the cold makes you want to eat more and get out less.

So why are we trying so hard?  Instead of fighting against the weather and the cold, the leftover sweets and the need to find warmth, why don’t we lean into its harshness and find comfort in it?

This year that’s exactly what I’m doing.  I ate all the leftovers from Christmas and didn’t feel guilty one jot.  Usually, I feel guilty for chucking perfectly good food away just because “now is the time I need to eat healthily”.   I don’t get up early if I don’t need to find myself naturally rising as the filtered grey lights adorn the windows, and I don’t feel guilty for it.  Nor do I feel bad for sticking my PJs on at 8pm and going to bed early.  Or sitting in front of the fire watching an old film.

Instead, I tell myself that the only two goals I need to achieve are these:

Get through the day as best I can and make sure I go for a walk.  Anything else is a bonus.

I have goals I want to achieve this year but I’ve got all year.  As always I want to eat in a healthy way but if that means I fancy a jacket potato or a hearty stew rather than say a salad, then I’m going to eat it.  The one thing I have cut out completely is alcohol and replaced it with non-alcoholic choices.  Now is the time for comfort food, not shakes, nor reductions in calories or trying to cycle every day.  I admire people who do this but, from experience, it’s just not for me.

The harder I push the harder it gets, without many gains.  I find that it’s much easier to start exercise and diet regimes in March than it is in January.  On the other hand, if you’re a film or book lover, like me, then January gives you much more opportunity to read a book or watch a film.

I want to celebrate January for what it is – the month for rejuvenation through rest and sleep, healthy nourishment, having time for reading and making as much of the outdoors as the light and the weather allow.

A once-in-a-year opportunity to get over the Festive season’s celebration and slowly unwind, ready for Spring.

Thank you for reading.