The January Blues.

January. A wet fish of a month.

You’re skint from the holidays and it seems to be everybody’s birthday.

It’s that time of year when you’re expected to set goals, do better and succeed more than the year before.

On top of it all, the pandemic still lingers and the world remains strange and uncertain.

Although January is thought to be a pretty quiet month it can be a noisy one in our heads.

But whilst we are all sitting here, worrying about what we should be doing right now and how we can be more like this and like that — we wanted to share a snippet from ‘Stillness is the Key’ by Ryan Holiday:

“People don’t understand that the hardest thing is actually doing something that is close to nothing.
We rarely live in this moment. We, in fact, desperately try to get out of it — by thinking, doing, talking, worrying, remembering, hoping… whatever.
We sign up for endless activities and obligations, chase money and accomplishments, all with the naive belief that at the end of it will be happiness.
Remember, there’s no greatness in the future. Or clarity. Or insight. Or happiness. Or peace. There is only this moment.”

What if we scrapped the 2022 mantras and just focused our energy into the day ahead of us?

Too many of us think to live life to the full we must do more — cramming in more activities, events and goals. As a result, we’re actually missing out on the lives we are trying to enjoy.

We never seem to take a break and pause. Especially at this time of year, when it’s expected of you to be all systems go.

As you may know, our team are huge advocates for time freedom. We think time to wander around, to think and just be, is an essential part of becoming present.

Of course, this looks different for everyone, for some it will be spending time outdoors, others it may be reading, writing or creating.

For many of us, we are yet to have that bit figured out but that’s okay too.

It’s not easy to fight self imposed pressure, but not impossible either. It’s about getting the balance right.

Absurd as it may seem because it’s JANUARY — take yourself off the new year hamster wheel and allow yourself this time to be present.

To focus on what really matters to you.

There really is only this moment.

I asked the Potential team what they’ve implemented into their days this week to feel calmer and more present, here’s what they said…

“I’ve enjoyed a smoothie everyday to start the morning right, because I work from home, I’m able to break my day up with walks to counteract the screen time. I have tried meditating but I’m struggling with being still at the moment.”

“Exercising is a form of meditation for me so I start the day off with no headphones, no distractions, just running. I get into a rhythm and it’s honestly one of my most relaxing things I like to do. So I do that, oh and spend time in my garden. I love my garden.”

“I like to go walking sometimes at sunrise. I have a regular route around my local lake, sometimes my sister joins me and we write an agenda and go through it as we walk. It feels very productive.”

“Because I have flexible hours, I can fit work around my personal projects. I also like to just sit in the sauna without my phone or anything and just stare at the wall. It calms me, well that and better than looking at all the other sweaty men.”

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M :)