January, the Longest Year Since Last Month...
January is too exhausting to talk about, or even write about, right now!
Why is it SO long?
Maybe it needs to be.
That’s why.
People, we need THAT much time to recover from the holiday season and then the weeks after. Really, it is a gift that the month is so long, actually. We need it! It’s not like on February 1st, or if February 1st was two weeks ago or something, that we would feel completely different really.
We can also practice so much during this time! Oh goodie—yes I’m rolling my eyes…No, but really, we get to practice patience and we get to practice grace. With January being soooo long we can even practice lingering as long as we want to! I mean with that perspective, thank God January is SO long!
Figures though, that we fuss at a time when we are given something that is actually helpful even if it takes—time! We always want to get on with it! When really, c’mon, dude, like freakin’ just take YOUR time! (Speaking to myself here too…)
Time is a gift for goodness sake! What is our problem?! It’s like when someone gives my mom a gift and she pushes it away, and sometimes even tries to give it back! (Sorry, not sorry, mom if you are reading this.) Most recently I had to remind her in a relatively gentle voice, “mom, just take the gift, and say thank you.”
So why can’t we just take ALL the days of January- all 31 of them?! It really does seem like EVERY January, someone (yes, me included) is always fussing about how long January is. It’s like who can make the most viral meme about it every year. Honestly, though it’s a GOOD thing to have extra time!
Oh well. I mean it get it, of course. January can be hard. Maybe it’s why people don’t want to linger. January is recovery. It’s a chance to recover. And generally if you’re recovering, then it means there was something to recover from. Maybe it was the often crazed holiday season no matter how hard you try to NOT get caught up in it. Even the manic energy, though, around every.thing. can be pervasive. So then we have to recover from that exertion of energy. Even if we weren’t busy ourselves, we had to exert energy to be calm, remain calm.
Or maybe of course we’re recovering from some sort of seasonal illness that either knocked us out, and/or the whole family- even if we had been doing all.the.things to stay healthy. Or maybe the holiday season was a time of grief as it can be for so many. Maybe there were the disappointments of how we thought things would go, and they didn’t go that way, even though again we had done all.the.things to prepare.
And then there’s the weather here in the northern hemisphere- when the days are short and cold. Even the best hot chocolate, cozy times on the couch with a book or a good show to binge after a while aren’t so relaxing. We just want to hop over to February 2nd, when the groundhog tells us whether winter is leaving anytime soon.
Then there is the holiday clean-up! Sheesh! All that prep needs to be un-prepped and packed away. (I mean if I put that much effort into even just my closet or pantry every year- skies the limit…) In our house, sometimes it can be so much stuff that we wind up putting it away in stages. And actually I like to leave the lights up well into February, because well lights bring light…
And then finally all through the month of January our bodies are recuperating from all that seasonally food and drink- that really spans back from Thanksgiving. It is all 100% fun at the time of the festivities. But afterwards, even if we suddenly (and maybe because we suddenly shock our systems) go on a cleanse, our bodies need time to recalibrate its biochemistry.
So wow folks—that is A LOT (let ALONE the newsreel these days AND whatever else happened in your family or community circle)! So puleeeeeze for the love of allllll things that are MEANT to help you!!! Take the whole dang month of January!
Yes we are finallllllly at the end! Please bookmark this piece, as will I—as your reminder to just chill out next year—when yes again January will ONLY be 31 days again even if it feels like 3,100 days!
Also, PS: My wonderful mom turned 80 this January and my amazing daughter 15 on the same day! And 9 days later my awesome son turned 17! (Plus a bunch of friends had their birthdays too—so I ain't all that mad atcha January!)
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If you are new to me and want to know more about what happens in the other months, not January, click here for all my other writing…
January as a gift, now that’s novel, lol.. I wish I had enjoyed more of them. I’ll thank tomorrow!