I don’t know about you guys, but January really sucks for me.
We all know how it goes, since it’s the same thing every year. Christmas is over, the decorations come down, the cheese gets finished and life is back to normal after a holiday break. And it’s not easy getting back into the swing of things at all. The world is burning around us (literally, as the Australian bushfires are killing entire species), your feeds are full of diet franchises and ‘skinny tea’ adverts and the credit card bill you took a hit on has come back to bite you in the arse. So here’s some ways to beat the January blues that I’m doing to keep myself happy and healthy.
Daunting Resolutions? Make Them Attainable
Even when we pretend we don’t make resolutions, let’s be honest — we all get sucked into thinking that we’ll change our lives at the beginning of a new year. And maybe you’ve been sat thinking about how many things you want to change and achieve in the next year. That’s cool — goals are super important! However, you don’t have to drop everything in order to progress.
Break down every big goal into attainable pieces. If it’s to save a certain amount of money, break it down into days. If it’s to do a certain thing like write a book or make something, make your goal to meet a certain word count or time worked on it within a week or a month. Each smaller goal leads up to your bigger one, but makes it less daunting and easier to achieve. And we love the feeling of achieving, right?
Personally? I love my bullet journal. I can break down everything into easier tasks to take care of my
Forgive Yourself.
Stop being so hard on yourself, simple. You will succeed and you will fail, just forgive yourself for your mistakes, for the stuff you haven’t done and whatever else is keeping you back. It will help you move on and create new things.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others. You’re Doing Just Great!
I’m not going to lie here guys, this is me to a T. I’m writing this the day after having a little existential meltdown because I wasn’t where I wanted to be in life, or even knew what I wanted to be. The logical side of me is easily able to say out of that crisis that I’m doing just great as I am now, but I know it’s really difficult to get to that point. But I suppose that’s why you’re reading a post about ways to beat the January blues!
The way I’m tackling it recently is every time I feel those thoughts and feelings on inadequacy bubble up — I counteract by telling myself something I do well. Or sometimes, when I’m really bad, I just tell myself I’m doing exactly fine as I am and try and move on.
You Can Do Anything, Not Everything
Guys, I know general media is telling you otherwise, but you really don’t need to be changing your job, dumping all your partners, changing your wardrobe and being vegan/sober for a month if you don’t want to be. You’re only one person, and generally most people can only do one thing at a time.
If you want to enjoy the challenges that come about in the new year — please go for it. If you want to take advantage of cheaper gym memberships or join in on getting healthier, go girl go! But you shouldn’t feel that you have to.
Self Care is Incredibly Important
Self care is one of those phrases that ignorant people think is just a way of being self indulgent. And it’s absolutely fine if that’s the sort of self care you need — don’t get me wrong! But sometimes self care is as simple as pushing yourself to brush your teeth and have a shower, or brush your hair. Or maybe it’s to clean up your immediate environment to cheer yourself up. Each day take a moment to do something that is care for you. That may be to read, to have a luxurious bath or do a skincare routine. Maybe it’s to get out of bed and have a short walk outside during the day to get some vitamin D. Hell, maybe it’s doing a bulk order of vitamins to help you get through a day.
Whatever your personal self care may be — make sure you get in as much of it as possible over this stressful time. Go hug a pet/friend/partner/family member and treat yourself to something nice, whatever that may be. Oh, and if you need a push — go shower and brush your teeth, please. It’ll make you feel better, I promise.
And Remember – You’ve Got A 100% Success Rate So Far.
Keep on keeping on, guys. You’re all doing great. Let me know your ways to beat the January blues in the comments!
[…] I’d love to hear how you’re all doing with this situation at hand — let me know in the comments! You can also see my post on beating the January Blues which also works here. […]