New Year, New Thinking: ‘What if January could be the best month of the year?’

January is traditionally perceived as a month that can be depressing for many, a time when we need to come up with more and more ways to beat the ‘January Blues’.

But what if January was a month to embrace, rather than endure? A month when we revel in the evening fires at home instead of dreading the darkness.

Culdaff mental health counsellor Tracy McKeague argues that it’s much healthier to live in the moment; to live happily in the now of January rather than ‘wish our lives away’, counting down to sunny holidays.

And with Valentine’s Day cards and Easter eggs already hitting the supermarket shelves, maybe it’s time to slow down and recognise that life is much healthier at cruising-along speed instead of warp speed.

“The dust hasn’t even had a chance to settle on the Christmas tree yet, and here we are, moved on to the next big event already. We all know the commercial industry moves at a fast pace, one step ahead of the rest of us, but have we as human beings become the same? Are we wishing our lives away?” Tracy asks.

The first step towards a better January, Tracy advises, is to begin to look at the first month of the year in a radically different and much more positive light, rather than simply with a feeling of resignation that it’s a period ‘to get through’.

“Let’s be honest, most people are not fans of January. We have even coined the term ‘January Blues’, so we are accepting of it being a certain way. If we expect it to be bleak, then of course, who wouldn’t want to wish that bleakness away!”

“January as a month hasn’t as much going for it over its sunnier counterparts, with dark skies, the aftermath of Christmas spending and perhaps emotional burn-out, but can January be good too?”

‘Tendency to wish life away’

Tracy asks us to consider something completely contrary to conventional wisdom for a moment.

“What if January was the best month? With no pressures to buy things, no need to go anywhere, be anywhere. A time with lots of warm evening fires, duvet days and hibernation; it’s a new way of looking at it, isn’t it?”

“I am not trying to push January or any other month, but I would like to highlight acceptance and the potential for a new way of thinking, to embrace January or any other month.”

“Of the twelve months that will make up your year, each one will bring different things, maybe not all great but maybe not all bad either. We all have a tendency to wish life away, waiting for the better times or the fun to begin, but often the small everyday stuff is what we look back upon.”

“We can’t always be waiting for the holidays, or to look a certain way or be a certain size or have a certain job – otherwise we are not living now,” the 45-year-old wellbeing expert adds.

Ditch the New Year’s Resolutions

Tracy says piling the added pressure of New Year’s Resolutions onto what can be an already difficult period makes no logical sense whatsoever.

“When I mention new starts, the first thing that springs to mind is New Year’s Resolutions. But I am not a fan of these.”

“Because if I follow the tradition of ‘having’ to do something, it will mean giving up something or forcing myself to do something that is far from appealing.”

“I can understand the concept of ‘new year, fresh start’, but why shouldn’t our resolutions be more along the lines of: looking for more fun in life; meeting up more often with friends; or changing our views on things? Instead, it becomes about depriving ourselves of things right after a period of over-indulgence.”

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The Culdaff counsellor says achieving a balance is much more important. Going from one extreme to the other often throws us out of sync, and that is not the start we want to January or any other new beginning.

“Resolutions focus on concrete things to do, yet our resolutions could be more about ways of being, mindset, because we all know if we can change our mindset, we are on to a better life. We could stick to resolutions fully (and be in the minority), yet it may not bring about more happiness or contentment.”

“Maybe we even aim too high for that at certain times, maybe being okay is okay. Perhaps it’s better to be okay in the absolute ordinary rather than putting a massive emphasis on times in life where there is an expectation for life to be great! The song ‘Christmas Is The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’ springs to mind. It may not be the most wonderful time of the year for so many but we force it on ourselves and our expectations might be unrealistic as a consequence.”

‘Time is so precious’

Mother-of-three Tracy says regardless of what month it is, life is precious and there are lots of challenges along the way, with lots of potholes but lots of daisies too – we just need to know where to look.

“I remember with my first child waiting to lose baby weight to get our family photographs taken, but by the second child, I realised how time is precious and the photographs were taken regardless. The way we all looked there and then told the story, and that was the real memory.”

She warns that those who are busiest, living life at the fastest pace, can often be most at risk at this time of year.

“When children are born we all notice how time flies, children change rapidly but so do we as adults, we often just miss out on our changes, we get a day older and despite the wrinkles this isn’t a bad thing, it’s a privilege.”

“Often with ageing comes wisdom to enjoy or peace to accept, but it’s the people in between, the busy bees, that time really flies for and sometimes I think the January Blues can hit those people harder because it’s back to routine and for some that routine is blurred by autopilot.”

“People get caught up in life rather than live it. If we could (and I definitely include myself in this) be more present in the here and now and what’s happening right here, right now – would time slow down a bit more, would we have more time to say we are okay, even content, is that the key to happier times?” Tracy asks.

Tracy says January could be the month to embrace a “long-term new way of being” that lasts well beyond the third week of January when we have all given up on the resolutions.

She adds: “This article is full of questions for both you and I. And questioning anything in life that might make it a bit better is something that’s definitely worth exploring. Happy January!”