How to survive January?

My birthday is in January!

I appear to have 3 meals out and a coffee morning organised so that is a good start.

It will all depend in the weather for me. I can survive any month that doesn't have snow to throw a spanner in the works. We promised to visit an old friend after New Year, so I'm quite looking forward to that, and then there's DDs birthday.

I find January quite tough too, mainly due to the cold, which I really dislike. It's still dark too, to add insult to injury.

I'm looking forward to 2017 though-I'm hoping to get an actual, proper job again after years of pt and caring for others. . And I'm back at tennis in Mid January which will help get those extra Xmas pounds back off.

Once the nights start to get a bit lighter-they are already, bit by tiny bit-I feel more positive.

My birthday is in January too, kittylester, as is that of Dgd2 and Dgs2, as well as that of two very dear friends. Hate the month otherwise, though( and have made offspring promise not to inflict January births on any new grandchildren)!

Lunch out with friends. Meetings to attend in connection with my voluntary work. Clearing out [ha ha]. Knitting. Finding time to read. And then there's the GC! And of course GN!

I always find this time of year difficult. I have a routine of volunteering jobs each week but it is not easy getting going. I need someone to kick me out of bed!

I hate January. So I just try to keep warm and keep busy.
It's not easy though, is it... but I tell myself that spring is just around the corner.
(talking of which, all my bulbs are coming up too early).

Here is a little poem that I wrote when I was dreading something. I think it's appropriate here too:

It will come and it will go
Maybe fast or maybe slow
But one thing that I surely know
Is it will come and it will go...........

Eat lots of chocolate biscuits ( all the boxes of them that we were given at Christmas.)

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow
It also brings on thoughts of dread,
A good idea to stay in bed.
(Anon)

Im going to hibernate till spring!!!

We have family birthdays january and february which really help.

Failing that, I read a mini celebrity say once that she hosts parties in january to cheer people up.
Sounds like a plan to me!

I love January. The anticipation of Spring to come and the quiet days.

I only said to my husband this lunchtime how i long for the warmer weather so that after lunch i can start pottering in the garden. I hate the cold dark afternoons i seem to gravitate to the sofa put on a film or catch up and promptly fall asleep. In the spring and summer i am outside as much as possible weather permitting, either in garden or playing bowls. This time of year makes me feel lazy and sluggish. I like many other eat all the wrong foods and put on weight and i hate it. I hate having to find things to do in the house rather than doing things cos they need to be done. Maybe i suffer with SAD??? I kind of feel 'shut down'

Mine too kitty

I quite like the winter months, especially here where it never gets dark earlier than 5.30 pm. I like the cold weather, once I get going, and it keeps the insects away.
But I wouldn't like it in Scotland, where we had a place once. It was dark at 3.30 pm, until about 9am.

ps how to survive? I used to spend more time playing the piano, or baking, or sewing, or writing letters. No good going to bed early or I would wake in the middle of the night, bored.

I don't like January and already I have two funerals to attend.

I don't mind January at all. My favourite gardening books come off the shelves on New Years Day, in particular, Carol Klein's Life in a Cottage Garden which spurs me on to deal with tasks that can be done. I also have an ornamental kitchen garden to design so I might do a proper job and find some design software as my drawing board is lurking somewhere at the back of the garage.

The sewing machine will make an appearance after a trip to the market to buy some fabric for making cushion covers for the mobile home. I will also finish some decorating jobs and the solid wood worktop in the kitchen could do with oiling.

If the weather is truly dire I will have a kindle and TV binge.

Soon be Feb

The ornamental kitchen sounds very interestingmerlot I wish I was artistic in some manner I just plant the seeds/bulbs and hope and prey they appear when they should,I don't enjoy January/February they are dark dismal months imo even going to work is a bind as the shop is very quiet until about lunch time when all the regular customers make an appearance,not to worry it will soon be Spring ladies.

Mine too Kitty ....the big seven zero

And Nina

merlot That sounds lovely. I can imagine you sat at your kitchen table, going over the books, writing notes and warming your hands on a milky hot chocolate.

I watched a Flog It the other day which I had recorded. It was at Tatton Park, in the summer. I hadn't seen it before, it is gorgeous, I might go this year if I can. But just to see the flowers and sun was wonderful on a dark winter's night. It reminds us that there are bulbs getting ready to break through and shower us with their floral beauty. I do think gardening helps to make January more bearable. It seems such a long month.

I have appointments for hospital, different departments, and dentists too. Go to appointment and then leave it until next appointment and get on with something fun, like the auction house.