Lifestyle

Don’t try to fight the January blues, embrace them


Just like the seasons, our mood is supposed to go through high and lows (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

It’s the first Monday after new year which, for many of us, means the first day back at work.

It’s also 6 January, which is the last socially acceptable day to have a tree inside your living room. So sweep up those pine needles and bubble wrap your baubles: the joy of the holidays is officially over.

As far as I know there aren’t any songs about removing boughs of holly from the halls or it ceasing to look a lot like Christmas, but it’s an annual occurrence none the less. After each high comes a low and the January blues are upon us.

I felt it as soon as I returned home to London. It was a little darker, a little colder and I was significantly poorer, too.

January holds all of the calendar’s sad ingredients and whether you’re prone to a depressive state or not, it feels like a struggle.

I tried to fight it, armed with my compendium of happiness-hacks, but it was useless.

A hot roast dinner was substandard without cranberry sauce. A latte at my favourite coffee spot tasted like dishwater without the cinnamon. A Friends binge was futile. 

I felt compelled to answer Joey’s ‘How you doin’?’ out loud with a, ‘Not that great, actually. Thanks for asking.’

Once I was forced to accept that January just sucks, I started to feel better. My strife was ended by accepting the fact that I can’t be happy all the time. Sometimes it’s good to feel a bit sad.

Try going for a stroll at lunch just to remind your body that daylight actually does exist (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

I imagined if Wizzard had their wish granted and it really was Christmas every day. It would be a living hell. 

Just like the seasons, our mood is supposed to go through high and lows. As long as it doesn’t descend into a deep depression sadness can be healthy for us, too.

I’m sure you already sick to death of the ‘New Year New Me’ hashtags, along with the swathe of resolutions from all echelons of social media. 

Faux influencers proving just how happy their new year was and how prosperous they predict their next 12 months to be. We’re pressured into thinking that sadness is somehow unacceptable or unnatural but it’s a part of life.

January has traditionally been a time when retailers try to prove that the pursuit of material happiness will lead to genuine joy. Half price this, 60 per cent off that and the after-Christmas void filled with things we don’t need at prices we still can’t afford. This route to happiness is doomed

As stylish as it may be, a half-priced sofa won’t stave off the blues forever. So when they do hit, try embracing them instead.

I’m not saying that prolonged periods of sadness are a good thing and it’s important that you check in with yourself if you feel like you’re stuck in a rut. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects one in three people in the UK and women are 40 per cent more likely than men to experience it. 

Symptoms include low energy, self-esteem and anxiety – my personal unholy trinity –  which can turn sadness into an insufferable low.

Fewer daylight hours take its toll on the body and affects a variety of neurochemicals inside the brain. 

Without light, the body produces more melatonin and causes a decrease in energy. Fewer distractions at Christmas means that we might not notice it so much, but when you’re back to the grind the effects can feel brutal.

Don’t beat yourself up if you’re feeling down this January, the odds are very much against you so give yourself a break.

Try going for a stroll at lunch just to remind your body that daylight actually does exist. 

Or stay in the warmth of the break room and listen to Sandra from accounts talk about her resolutions, smug in the knowledge that she won’t last a week.

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