Every new year l promise myself I’ll beat the ‘January Blues’.
‘NO resolutions this time. It’s just another tick of the clock’.
Still I find myself making them, because “It’ll be a fresh start”. “New year, new me”!
Oh, please!
Get more exercise. Get ANY exercise! Eat more fruit. Drink less tea.
Don’t let time get away from me!
Get out more.
Don’t worry about the future.
Don’t fear what you don’t even know will happen.
You only worry twice – and it robs you of the happiness you have now.
All these expectations are too much for me. Like things will change, magically!
So yes, I have the ‘January Blues’ because it’s dark and cold.
The Christmas lights are gone.
Everything feels stark and bare – and we have to find the energy to do it all again.
I have to find the energy to do it all again.
The frost still lies shimmering in Winter sunshine. It’s beautiful.
Must tidy up. Throw things away.
Like time gets thrown away.
Don’t get me started on what ‘tidying up’ does to the planet!
Unwanted Christmas gifts, if not recycled or given to a charity shop will just end up on landfill.
Landfill.
Planet.
Time.
No wonder everyone is depressed.
We’re living on a burning planet… and there’s a persistent danger of, (as Baldrick would say), “Boom”!
I’m launching my own rebellion…against January. Against the meaningless ‘New Year, New me’ false positivity.
It is just an arbitrary date.
Who says you can’t make a ‘resolution’ in the middle of, say, May…or three o clock in the morning on some random Tuesday?!
(Regular insomniacs like me are used to making decisions at ‘unearthly hours!’ – It’s often the only way we can get any sleep)!
Those decisions don’t have to stick, they just have to help you find peace in uncertain times.
That’s what ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ are really about…and there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?
-Not if they help us ‘find the energy to do it all again’ and feel reasonably confident about it.
I smile.
Please excuse my musings!
…Honestly, the things I’ll come up with to justify putting the kettle on again and finishing the mince pies!
Happy New Year!
Helen Sims
