Maybe you like January. It’s a fresh start. The stress of the holidays are over. Maybe you celebrate important birthdays this month. There are lots of reasons. Though January is special because we have an anniversary to celebrate and also because I love making plans for the year, this isn’t my favorite month. In college it didn’t have the newness of fall or the hope of summer break that spring quarter had. Holidays don’t stress me out, I just love them, so in January, all the crafting and prep that led up, over. The weather isn’t great though now that I’m in LA I love the coolness and revel in not needing the AC. For a lot of reason January (and February while we’re at it) can bum a girl out. I decided to try to turn all that around in 2016. And half way through the month seemed like good a time as any to get started… Ha. Now, ideas, for those of you in the same boat.
1. Get stuff done early. For those of us self-employed, January is kind of a scary month. I need to make sure I wrapped everything up in 2015 and that all my finances are divided and sorted out appropriately. It’s a messy time of year, ending one and beginning another, and estimated tax dates always confuse me (it’s here!). All in all if I just looked into what I’ll be facing as I start a new year in business, I’ll enjoy my month much more.
2. Throw in some fun resolutions. I didn’t write formal resolutions down this year (maybe the first ever) but I have lots of changes I’m implementing, including a little post-holiday detoxing. Instead of making this big and full of pressure, I’m focusing on cooking more at home. Last weekend I rounded up lots of recipes so I don’t get stressed out (i.am.not.a.cook) trying to come up with meals, stocked up on the more obscure ingredients I never have on hand, and kicked off the year with some surprisingly delicious meals (shout out to my mom for the slow cooker for Christmas). This way the whole get healthier/learn to cook/eat out less resolution bundle sounds a lot less daunting. Enjoyable, even.
3. Either embrace the cold or escape it. Admittedly I don’t have much to deal with in the way of bad weather (in LA they just put rain in the forecast every now and then for morale, we think) but I did live in the PNW for 22 years. We’re electing to plan a trip out to the desert later this month, where it’s perfect during the day and chilly at night. It’ll be a nice little change of pace. My family in the Northwest have been getting some snow, and since that’s pretty rare for Seattle, they’re definitely embracing it.
4. Try less-crowded winter activities. It’s a lot easier to do a lot of winter activities after the holidays when things are a bit less packed. Even the ice skating rinks in LA (yeah, those are things) are still up in the beginning of January, and yet not near as crazy as December. My January weekend activity is going to be hiking (I know, winter…LA…it makes no sense). You won’t find me climbing any dry dirt hills (the definition of hiking here) on an 85 degree day, so I hike way more in the winter. It’s nice because not nearly as many people are crowding the trails.
5. Test out crafts and designs. January and February used to bum me out as a seasonal Etsy seller because sales dropped off completely around this time. Having things go super well if you’re a handmade seller is the dream and to still have the momentum but no orders to fulfill is kind of depressing. It turns out, a great thing to fill this lull with is creating without the pressure. Plus, with all those holiday sales on yarn, it’s a good time to do some no pressure crafting and coming up with new designs for the next season.
Okay, those are my ideas… What about yours?
After the holidays are over, is always bitter sweet for me… sweet because I’ve done well, but bitter because the busiest time of year has come and gone, again…
I do the same, I like to rest and relax in January, and then start dreaming up new ideas. Trying new things.
I’d love if you shared some of your slow cooker recipes. I like to cook, but we have a small kitchen and it’s always taken over by soap, so I really need to find easy tasty ways to make meals at home more often…
Gosh I can’t believe it’s almost February already! 🙂
happy new year Angela!!
xoxo
That always bummed me out with Etsy – the fall would be full of making and shipping and in January…Nothing! I’ll definitely share some recipes! I’ve made a couple soups that were okay and a really good chicken dish so far. It’s a little difficult to do for only two people without having a ton of leftovers though!