Hello January, I love you!
I’ve just turned 49, my birthday is in January – which happens to be the most talked about month of the year!
Dry Jan, get fit Jan, lose weight Jan, let’s-be-better-people Jan, save money Jan, increase fibre intake Jan, walking Jan, take probiotics Jan, drink water Jan, journaling Jan, manifesting Jan – the list goes on. Pretty much everywhere you look there’s something about how to have a better start to the year – 2025 is going to be your year!, they say. How do they know? I say.
My calendar is sprinkled with birthdays in January and I see it as a month of celebration! My son was born on the same day as my Dad, both turning 6 and 81 in a few days. What better reason to love January? Over the years, I got used to having joint Christmas and birthday gifts and as I got older friends opting out of parties sharing the reason that it felt like the wrong time to have any fun. Life doesn’t change just because the calendar flips over, and yet many of us believe it does.
Gloomy January are two words I’ve read over and over these last few weeks. I haven’t been able to flick through a magazine or have a little look at instagram without seeing the words gloom or blue. I see why people can feel a bit glum in January, it is cold in the UK, the days are still short – 8:07 sunrise and 16:15 sunset is today’s reality – which means we get up in the dark and spend most of the day inside, so it can have an effect. But, it comes down to mindset and how much you believe what you read and what you’ve been conditioned to believe. If you start your month (or day) with the notion that January is sh*t and it is all doom and gloom, guess what? that’s how you will feel. Thoughts create feeling – so when you think gloom, you feel gloom, and equally when you think beauty, you feel beauty. That’s how it works.
So as I prepare for my little boy’s 6th birthday party this weekend, I think it is important to remind people that the word January isn’t a bad word. January isn’t a bad month unless you think it is. It is time to forget the concept of having the January blues and being pushed to change your life, instead remembering that January is full of beauty and wonder if you are open to seeing it (just like all of the days and months). And to those of you who have a birthday in January like myself, my son, my dad, my brother, my cousin, my nephew and a lot of friends – happy birthday – and share the message that January is brighter and more uplifting than it’s often portrayed to be.
Much love,
Lucy aka Geriatric Mum
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