January Blues
It’s now the 19th of January and the dust has finally settled. We don’t feel compelled to say “Happy New Year” to everyone we haven’t spoken to since “last year” & we’re kinda used to writing the date as 2023. But this brings up some tough feelings.
That motivation that you felt at the beginning of the year is now overwhelming. I see myself slowly slipping back into my earlier patterns & find myself with a disgustingly low level of will to do much. Today, I felt like staying in bed, calling in sick & not doing anything at all.
I don’t know if it’s the extremely low temperatures, the terrible AQI or just the January blues, but something is not right. Instead of fighting it, I’m trying to embrace it. Within (what feels to me) reason of course.
I’m allowing myself small luxuries like lying in bed 30 minutes after I’d woken up, in that sweet, dreamy state that gets you questioning your life choices. Having finally gotten up, I switched my regular decaf to coffee with Lions Mane & sat on my desk, albeit with the heater closer to feet than it should be, gently melting my slippers.
I opened my reading inbox & instead of getting overwhelmed with the 50+ newsletters that I haven’t managed to read, I went down a rabbit hole of McDonalds advertisements over the years. And then I thought to myself, why this was happening. And in search of an answer, started writing this.
I don’t know why this happens, but I have a theory. We start off January full of excitement from a new year, a fresh start if you may. I know the turning of the Calendar is not something that changes much, but the psychological fresh start has its own merits & I don’t want to go into them right now. We’re motivated for our goals & want to change everything all at once. You try to fix your health, your work habits, your overall state of being by taking on too much. This, becomes overwhelming & your “all or nothing” mindset kicks in & you end up abandoning everything altogether. This is more common than you think (a reason why you’ll find gyms starting to empty out by this time of the year).
How do you fix it though?
I don’t have a clear cut answer but I am going to try to implement a few things to help me beat the blues.
- Patience :
- Minimum Viable Effort
- Get some sunlight
- Talk to someone
Remind myself that I have time & don’t need to do everything NOW. I can take my time & do things, instead of rushing into doing things all at once.
Do what you can, when you can. If you can’t go to the gym, go for a walk. If you can’t go for a walk, pace around while you do your calls. Set the smallest possible targets & try to just achieve those.
The weathers been pretty terrible in Delhi for the past few days with the sun refusing to show up before later in the day. Try to get sunlight in your eyes as soon as you can after waking (h/t Lord Huberman).
Chances are your friends are going through something similar. Talk to them, try to and help each other through this tough time. If you’re in therapy, maybe talk to your Therapist about it.
I’m going to be trying all of these things to see if anything works & keep you posted. Onwards & upwards, but at your own pace.