How to beat the January Blues??

Glitzgirl · 05-01-2016 2:37pm

Oh I like this thread ! My bit of advice would be to keep the fire lighting in the evenings its good for a snuggle on the couch with the other half if nothing else

and after I take down all the christmas lights I like to keep my candles and decorative lights lit in the evening.

I have a row of rattan heart string lights that go on the fireplace for the rest of the year (to replace my Christmas garland ) and the flame less battery operated candles are great with little ones running around!

Ps making stew and dumplings now at the moment for dinner for Mr glitzgirl and the kids !

making a batch of homemade veg soup and brown bread later too for school / work

Toto Wolfcastle · 05-01-2016 2:40pm

Having something to look forward to! It doesn't have to be anything major. A trip to the cinema or going out for dinner or something.

Taking up (or continuing with) an interest. I love baking so lately I've been trying to come up with my own recipes. It's very satisfying when they work out and I get to eat what I make!

Exercising, as long as you stick with it. The actual exercise bit can be a bit crap if you're lazy and a bit unfit like me, but the feeling of reaching each goal cannot be beaten.

Loughc · 05-01-2016 2:57pm

Mystery Egg wrote: »

Most of us suffer the winter blues to some degree - this January feels lower than any other somehow though, perhaps it's the unceasing rain. And for those of us who truly love Christmas, the emptiness of January feels even worse than for the normies.

So! Ideas to stay positive and cheery. I am short on them, so will need your help.

Hey Mystery Egg, thanks for the post, we've a similar thread from last year so I've merged them together, there's some really good suggestions in it, well worth a read through.

As for my suggestion this year, I am doing a calendar of things to look forward to no matter how small from a tv show starting, a movie coming out that I want to go and see to a long weekend/bank holiday coming up.

I'm counting down to each event and also putting beside them how long left to Christmas as well. So as each item is ticked off my calendar I'll be inching closer to Christmas 2016.

Toto Wolfcastle · 05-01-2016 4:04pm

Loughc wrote: »

As for my suggestion this year, I am doing a calendar of things to look forward to no matter how small from a tv show starting, a movie coming out that I want to go and see to a long weekend/bank holiday coming up.

I'm counting down to each event and also putting beside them how long left to Christmas as well. So as each item is ticked off my calendar I'll be inching closer to Christmas 2016.

Great idea. I already put events in my gmail calendar that's synced with my phone so I get reminders, but adding TV shows and things like that will definitely help cheer me up! I've already stolen your 'take a photo everyday' idea. Yesterday's photo was of the Christmas decorations in the shopping centre because it's probably the last time I'll see them until next Christmas! It was after midnight (after the cinema) so there was no one around to ruin my photo.

I always feel better when the house is tidy, so I set a timer for 15 minutes in the morning, put on some music and run around putting the clutter away. Once the 15 minutes is up I stop. It keeps the place tidy and it's less of a pain in the ass than having to put everything away before you start other housework. Perfect for busy people who don't have much time for tidying. It's great as a New Year's resolution because it's quick, easy, and has massive benefits! Tidy house = happy Toto!

Loughc · 05-01-2016 4:14pm

And to my surprise Toto, I've kept up my Photo of the day, now I'm only on day 5 of 366, but I've almost for got about it twice already haha.

SarahLil · 05-01-2016 7:15pm

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

Great idea. I already put events in my gmail calendar that's synced with my phone so I get reminders, but adding TV shows and things like that will definitely help cheer me up! I've already stolen your 'take a photo everyday' idea. Yesterday's photo was of the Christmas decorations in the shopping centre because it's probably the last time I'll see them until next Christmas! It was after midnight (after the cinema) so there was no one around to ruin my photo.

I always feel better when the house is tidy, so I set a timer for 15 minutes in the morning, put on some music and run around putting the clutter away. Once the 15 minutes is up I stop. It keeps the place tidy and it's less of a pain in the ass than having to put everything away before you start other housework. Perfect for busy people who don't have much time for tidying. It's great as a New Year's resolution because it's quick, easy, and has massive benefits! Tidy house = happy Toto!

that's a brilliant idea i love a tidy house too,

Mystery Egg · 06-01-2016 10:21am

We've been baking fresh bread. It smells good and is comforting and satisfying.

Dolbert · 06-01-2016 12:37pm

Getting stuck into a new creative project is always a good un! We've spent a couple of days recording in the studio this week and it's been a great distraction from the thoughts of work on Monday

BuilderPlumber · 06-01-2016 4:16pm

It depends on what one wants. Here are some tips:

1. One already knows January follows commercial Christmas and make sure you have planned to enjoy January too. Do certain things you do at Christmas in January as well.

2. Keep Christmas decorations up until longer. One thing I hate about Christmas is the commercial aspect: barely are we finished with Halloween and we hear Christmas nonstop. Suddenly, it dies on 1st January. Traditional Christmas goes on a lot longer actually! 6th January for some, even 2nd February. The Epiphany was once considered as important as Christmas.

3. (For this year): January so far has been a lot better weatherwise than November and December so far! Hope it stays this way.

4. If you are Russian, etc. and follow the Orthodox, then Christmas is just beginning! If you have friends who follow this tradition or you do yourself, get involved and make the most of it.

5. As others said, do something exciting or uplifting. That can range from anything from a holiday to a diet or whatever one wants to do to satisfy themselves.

6. Do not follow what many do. Make sure you enjoy every month of the year in your way.

7. If you're in school, pray for snow!

8. The darkest months of the year and generally speaking the worst of the winter weather should be at an end as January enters its second half.

Sunny Dayz · 06-01-2016 4:38pm

I think it helps to get the calendar out and mark on it all the important occasions, events, birthdays etc for the year. I find it breaks down the year into manageable sections and shows you what you have to look forward to.

I think January is a good month to get properly winterly, if that makes sense!! Most of the winter season is taken up with Christmas everywhere from the start of Nov. It would be nice to treat January as a proper winter month, as other posters have suggested, cosy fires, soups, stews, walks with 50 layers on, box sets, a good book.

Get into exercising, Operation Transformation is starting back and they generally create a good buzz. Couch to 5k plans are starting back. I'm doing a thing through Facebook, fronted by Bressie called RHYTHM where you try to do 5km a day and then an organised 5km at the end of the month. So far so good!

Loughc · 05-01-2020 6:26pm

Bumping an old thread but it’s on the back of discussion we had earlier.

What I plan on doing this year to beat the January/Winter blues is to look at the year as a TV series. Christmas is the season finale, and sept onwards is when everything ramps up to the season finale. But like a tv without the first few episodes the season finale wouldn’t make sense.

I’ve made a list of just one thing each month to look forward to. Example this month we’re going to the 3Arena for strictly. Next month a gig, March is Paddy's Day and April is Easter and so on.

I’ve also going to try and not get too bogged down in work and switch off more. One of the best things about Christmas is everyone switches off. And why can’t that be the case more on the evenings and weekends. Work won’t stop if you die so your personal time shouldn’t stop for work.

This year I’m gonna enjoy my free time more. Do more jigsaws. Read more books and relax more.

I’m definitely going to enjoy the build up way more in November. December was an absolute write off given how busy it was.

Life is short too short. Let’s try and get the most out of it.

PaulT21 · 05-01-2020 7:36pm

Hi Folks,

Well its all over tomorrow for another year.
How do people cope with the blues, I don't want to call it depression, in respect to the many people who suffer from the real thing, but I do get really down at this time of year:(

They say that looking forward is wishing your life away, but I'm already counting the days until next Christmas:)

This forum certainly helps.

Many thanks to all the contributors.

Loughc · 05-01-2020 8:22pm

PaulT21 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Well its all over tomorrow for another year.
How do people cope with the blues, I don't want to call it depression, in respect to the many people who suffer from the real thing, but I do get really down at this time of year:(

They say that looking forward is wishing your life away, but I'm already counting the days until next Christmas:)

This forum certainly helps.

Many thanks to all the contributors.

Hey PaulT21 thanks for the post.

Have a read of this thread here for some fantastic ideas to beat the January blues. I find exercise really helps, nice long walks to yourself help clear the head and why not even throw on a Christmas tune or two to keep the spirit alive.

Posy · 05-01-2020 9:04pm

I'm looking up sun holidays (even though I don't even know when I'll be off work yet :pac: ) and planning my kitchen remodel.

Plus, I'm leaving most of my decorations up this week, purely because I don't think I'll have time to take them down before Saturday!

I think I'll do something nice on Jan 25th too, since it's a Saturday, for Rudolph Day, which is also Burns Night in Scotland and also the Chinese/Lunar New Year.

splinter65 · 05-01-2020 9:42pm

Christmastime in the RC Church liturgical calendar isn't over until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on 12 January and the Crib stays up in most of the churches until then. I don’t take down my tree now until then.

lcstress2012 · 05-01-2020 10:04pm

January is great to set goals and to unwind. I play mostly classical music on my piano and have bought a few piano books over Christmas. So I’m writing down what I want to learn/play and stick to them until their complete! Getting back to the gym is on the cards too, easier said than done though!

TRS30 · 06-01-2020 10:09am

As Loughc said I find having things to look forward to helps.

Over the Christmas when the family was together we were chatting about going to LEGOLAND this year. We want to bring the Grandparents before my Dad gets too old to walk around. The more we talking about it the more exciting it sounded so we have set up a Whatsapp group to plan the trip. Everyone is going to look into a different part and then we can decide on the best plan. Will be something to do over the next few weeks to keep the spirits up.

limnam · 06-01-2020 11:02am

I think it's good to have things you mostly only do in January

I usually make my marmalade for the year. Puts a nice new smell into the house and the kids can join in too.

Usually book the Easter holidays in January so something to do and something to look forward to.

Read some books that were received over the xmas and didn't have time to look at it.

It's a great month!

Day Lewin · 06-01-2020 12:45pm

Yes January can be so grim. Long, cold, and broke.
I'm deciding this year to approach it several ways -
look after my health, for one - in Ireland probably everyone is deficient in Vitamin D by now. So, daylight and supplements. And brisk walks, the gym, the pool.
And I'm planning a little bit of techno-fasting. Reduce if not eliminate the whole gazing-into-phone thing: less of facebook, emails, even dear old boards. More time for making a new jigsaw, reading, crafting.
Think I might make Fridays the fast day, in line with ancient traditions. Less food, less computer time, more quality time for me and my real life. !! :-)

Loughc · 06-01-2020 12:47pm

Day Lewin wrote: »

And I'm planning a little bit of techno-fasting. Reduce if not eliminate the whole gazing-into-phone thing: less of facebook, emails, even dear old boards. More time for making a new jigsaw, reading, crafting.
Think I might make Fridays the fast day, in line with ancient traditions. Less food, less computer time, more quality time for me and my real life. !! :-)

Oh I like it, Phone Free Fridays...?

I might use that evening as my jigsaw assembly night too.

TRS30 · 06-01-2020 2:14pm

Day Lewin wrote: »

Yes January can be so grim. Long, cold, and broke.
I'm deciding this year to approach it several ways -
look after my health, for one - in Ireland probably everyone is deficient in Vitamin D by now. So, daylight and supplements. And brisk walks, the gym, the pool.
And I'm planning a little bit of techno-fasting. Reduce if not eliminate the whole gazing-into-phone thing: less of facebook, emails, even dear old boards. More time for making a new jigsaw, reading, crafting.
Think I might make Fridays the fast day, in line with ancient traditions. Less food, less computer time, more quality time for me and my real life. !! :-)

Loughc wrote: »

Oh I like it, Phone Free Fridays...?

I might use that evening as my jigsaw assembly night too.

Love it DL, great idea.

Also loving the jigsaw vibe. Had some really nice time over the last couple of weeks doing jigsaws with the kids and doing adult ones in my folks and sisters house. Is a great way to relax and I find it very therapeutic.

otnomart · 07-01-2020 6:55am

Don't really get the January blues (it's end of Summer blues for me),
My advice would be: don't punish yourself during this month and treat yourself with all the things you love about Winter:
light the fireplace if you have it, candles if you like them, lots of early nights in with a cosy blanket and a movie or a good book, comfort food (not all comfort food is unhealthy !), walks when the weather is dry and crisp...

Graces7 · 12-01-2020 8:46am

Our Orthodox Christmas was January 7th ( simple and blessedly low key) and New Year's Eve is Storm Brendan day, ie 6th for New Year on 7th

And also; in older times, Christmas lasted 40 days, until Candlemas,( then a little later, Lent for forty days and forty days for Easter and so on.)

GalwayGrrrrrl · 12-01-2020 9:21am

I’ve been doing RED January this month and I’ve found it good for encouraging me to exercise. It’s an initiative by the charity MIND in the UK and stands for Run Every Day. I’ve interpreted it as exercise every day, outdoors if possible. I try to look for an interesting photo to take while I’m out too so that adds to the creativity of the project.

jr86 · 12-01-2020 12:31pm

otnomart wrote: »

Don't really get the January blues (it's end of Summer blues for me),
My advice would be: don't punish yourself during this month and treat yourself with all the things you love about Winter:

Yeah I was never really a "non-January" person for lack of a better term :pac: Personally I'm a man of routine and while I enjoy the few days of sheer laziness and indulgence over Christmas, I do enjoy going back to a sense of normality at the same time. Very good advice also by the way - January is really what you make of it yourself.

Funnily enough if there's any month I get "blues" its March or even November. By March I'm fed up of shorter evenings and changeable weather - I just want the clocks to go forward for once and for all!

I find November very dark and dreary at times too, with the madness of year end at work approaching and the psychological feel of Christmas being so close yet so far! The last month before is often the toughest for me

GalwayGrrrrrl wrote: »

I’ve been doing RED January this month and I’ve found it good for encouraging me to exercise. It’s an initiative by the charity MIND in the UK and stands for Run Every Day. I’ve interpreted it as exercise every day, outdoors if possible. I try to look for an interesting photo to take while I’m out too so that adds to the creativity of the project.

Yeah I think the exercise every day makes much better sense

Not even top athletes will be running every day, everyone needs their rest days or your body will be in bits! Even if its a nice walk in the evening or morning or whatever its more than sufficient imo. Personally speaking what I find about exercise is that I have to mix it up. If I run every day straight for a week, I'll be fed up of running for eternity! So I might walk one day, run the next, gym the next and so on.

For these 31 day challenges and so on, I personally find changing a specific behaviour is much easier to stick to. So for example one year in January I decided to stop taking the lift at work for a month and walk up the 3 flights of stairs. A few years later and its second nature. Small things like that can make a difference and little challenges like that can easily lead to permanent changes.

jr86 · 15-01-2020 10:40pm

Just back from an evening walk. Lovely freshness in the air, not a puff of breeze for the most part, no traffic, bliss!

Need to make it much more of a habit year round. Lovely way to clear the head and escape from the stresses of everyday life!

miamee · 16-01-2020 10:38am

Thanks to the 6 million days in January, we haven't had much to spend on entertaining ourselves through January :pac: but I have made sure we have something on every weekend as much as possible whether that's visiting friends or family, meeting up with people for coffees or going out for walks. So far so good but how the heck is it still only the 16th?

Sundew · 16-01-2020 11:10am

I actually don’t mind the month of January. I usually find it an exciting month to start planning the year ahead. I always try and attend the Holiday Show in the RDS. It’s great for giving a lift after packing away the Christmas decor. I also love awaiting the arrival of the first Spring bulbs and already have snowdrops and daffodils in bloom!🌼

leahyl · 16-01-2020 11:24am

Have an interview for a promotion today - absolutely bricking it!!! Wish me luck

Sundew · 16-01-2020 11:31am

leahyl wrote: »

Have an interview for a promotion today - absolutely bricking it!!! Wish me luck

Best of luck! Hope it goes well for you ☘️☘️☘️

How to beat the January Blues??

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