January Can Be a Challenging Month for Many

On the heels of what's often a festive celebratory time during the holidays filled with fun times, colored lights, pretty packages, and parties with friends and loved ones, January can sometimes prove to be an unwelcome transition. Many people I know come out of the holidays a bit disoriented. January can feel like an uphill climb when in reality, if we were to align with the seasons, it's actually a time when we’re wired to "hibernate" and move more slowly as we ramp into the new year.

It's often a cold, bleak month where the days are short, the nights are long, and for those of us in the northern hemisphere, bad weather. That's certainly been the case here in California where I live. During the first half of January, we've endured unusually heavy rains for days on end, wind, hail and the damage and disruption that rides shotgun.  

It's the darkest month, and for some, that can be a lonely depressing time following a holiday filled with fun, merriment and festivities, surrounded by loved ones. Especially for those of us who are sensitive, when we’re confronted with "Top 10" lists full of advice on how we should be living our lives as we enter a new year; it seems there are always big expectations.

Further, we're encouraged to create a set of new year's resolutions, and goals often focused on improving our health, wealth, careers and relationships. Those good intentions last about a month on average, and then we often revert to old habits without grit, or intervention and support from others.  

For some of us, this is just too much. I'd like to propose an alternative. Maybe it's OK to take a week or two to recover and ease into the new year, starting by being kinder to ourselves and honoring the pace our body and mind are seeking before demanding that we throttle into full gear with velocity. To take some time to build ourselves up with enthusiasm for what lies ahead, but without undue pressure. To minimize the need for pushing, striving, struggling and over-exerting ourselves. And instead, to allow ourselves to flow with what shows up and what we’re being led or called to focus on with greater ease. To be more accepting of ourselves, the messy, rumpled, complex beings that we are. To make the choice to love and honor ourselves no matter what comes, through thick and thin.

I do enjoy the pulse and energy of the new year, and the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the past year and reset my compass for the next one. But maybe instead of making goals, we can instead aim for a sense of wholeness in all areas of our life where the primary goals are contentment and a sense of feeling fulfilled, without any sense of shame that we're somehow broken or off-track. To build ourselves back up vs tearing ourselves down. We can instead choose to anchor ourselves in our hearts, our desires, and invest in who and what brings us to life. Let's focus our energies on what really and truly matters the most. And before you know it, January will be in the rearview mirror!