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Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #73: Rest and Recharge
How I Fell in Love With January
The quiet gifts of winter can be yours if you will accept them
I know the traditional way to approach January is with gusto and resolve. This is the month that most people believe they will finally remake themselves into their imaginary perfect selves. There’s a lot of enthusiasm out of the gate for “New Year, New You.”
I learned a long time ago that, for me, this was a recipe for disaster. Not only was I never able to make my whole life over and finally become my fantasy self, but when I failed it just created the perfect conditions for me to feel shame, self-loathing, and self-abandonment. It made me feel like a failure.
When I started on my journey to healing, I decided that January and I needed a new understanding. To be fair, it was never January’s fault. January quietly arrives on kitten feet and asks nothing of us. In fact, January arrives with gifts, if we can only accept them.
After the busyness of the holiday season, many of us arrive at the new year breathless, exhausted, and spent. It seems totally bonkers to think that we should come out of this marathon of frenetic holiday activity and kick our butts into a new regime designed to deny that we are humans…
