People love to hate on January, don't they? It seems like first month of our new year is like the black sheep of the twelve month family. Everyone's grim about going back to work, the next big excitement of summer seems light years away (it's really not) and everyone's being so hard on themselves trying to completely change overnight due to the pressure of new year's resolutions.
I know because I've been there. This time last year I was absolutely dreading January, as in did not want to go back to Leeds where I was deep deep in the trenches of my PGCE. Sure, I was enjoying my course and it was my ticket to qualifying for something over always wanted to do and I knew that. But the idea of going back to Leeds away from my family and boyfriend to go back to 6.30am pick up times and marking books til 7pm and lesson observations and living with noisy international students who were seeing their stint in England as one big party?! No waaaaay, January, I'm not joining the party.
However, before I knew it, not only was January done and dusted (and not as bad as I expected, much like everything in life) but it was February half term and my time at the school I couldn't wait to leave was in fact done. And yep, you guessed it, I was sad to leave.
This made me think that how we see situations are the key factor in how we the situations themselves pan out. If I didn't have it in my head that January was going to be stressful and long and depressing I probably would have enjoyed it much more quickly and it would had made me enjoy my December even more too because I didn't have the looking January dread!
I'm not saying it's easy to be completely positive and love every day with the same kind of Christmas build up, chocolate fuelled, present buying excitement but I am going to take steps this year to make this month a #joyfuljanuary.
I always plan fun things for Decmeber, when in fact this month needs no help being exciting! Our friend January needs a little sparkle injected into it and that's where my #joyfuljanuary idea (which popped into my head on our drive back to Altrincham) comes in.
I am going to set out some fun things I am going to do or get organised in January to help the month look like work interspersed with fun rather than just work and no fun (the basic opposite of December!)
I feel all months should be treated like equal months like this. I am going to aim this year to find and create joy in vevey month, and the little things in every day so that I don't end up spending half the year counting down to Christmas and the other half counting down to summer (totally guilty of this!)
So in January I pledge to:
* Have a Skype date with one of my best uni friends who is back living in Belfast and have a lovely catch up.
* Do Zumba and step, my two favourite fitness classes as often as possible and see if there's any more fitness classes I want to try out!
* I will go to the cinema (this is already organised, The Theory of Everything on 21st January, see you there Eddie a Redmayne you beauty!)
* Sort out my Mum coming to visit sometime this month. I'm going to try and convince her to see Into the Woods with me. I can't wait to see this and Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep should help me make this an easy sell to her!
* I will make sure I reach at least page 100 of The Luminaries by the end of the month. I just started it after getting it for Christmas and while it's a mammoth read I'll feel really happy getting into it and getting started!
* Go visit the Northern Quarter in Manchester. I keep saying I want to explore more of Manchester and the Northern Quarter is still a complete mystery to me so I think my boyfriend and I are going to try and go next weekend. Any recommendations? Pleeeeease nowhere too alternative, I'm a huge Disney fan and my boyfriend will never have a large beard so I already feel we shall stick out like sore (non tattooed, non pierced) thumbs.
So, looking at all that I think that's quite a lot to be excited about for January! I really think this a nice idea just to try and make a little effort to have fun things lined up to help make waving goodbye to Christmas less dramatic and make saying hello to January a bit more joyful!
What about you? Do you have anything nice lined up for January? How do you battle the blues this time of year? What's your favourite time of year in general?
Speak soon!
Sophia x
