Beyond the Winter Blues: Reclaiming Your Energy in the New Year

With the festivities behind us and the new year stretching ahead, are you already bracing yourself for the so-called ‘January blues’? Let me cut straight to the point: the January blues don’t actually exist.

That’s right – there’s no such thing as the January blues.

Let me explain. The feelings we associate with this time of year – low mood, apathy, a sense of hopelessness or helplessness – don’t arise from January itself. Feelings don’t come from external circumstances, no matter how much we might believe they do. Just like the weather doesn’t make you grumpy, and someone’s political choices don’t ‘make’ you angry, January doesn’t have the power to dictate how you feel. I don’t want to disregard Seasonal Affective Disorder, or the impact of low Vitamin D in the winter months because these are very real. However, I do want to guard against giving up complete responsibility for our feelings and internal experience.

Here’s the problem: when we think something outside of us is ‘making’ us feel a certain way, we disconnect from our true selves. The more disconnected we are, the more caught up we become in overthinking and self-judgment. And the more we overthink, the heavier and more stuck we feel.

Where Do Feelings Really Come From?

Feelings aren’t problems to fix or external forces to blame – they’re part of our natural, human experience. As humans, we’re designed to feel everything: happiness, sadness, joy, frustration. None of these feelings are inherently ‘wrong’.

But here’s where we trip ourselves up: we believe we should feel happy all the time. And when we don’t, we assume something is broken – whether it’s us or our circumstances.

When we start blaming January, the weather, or our workload, we lose touch with the truth: feelings arise from within us, and they’re meant to flow naturally. The more we resist, analyse, or judge them, the more we block their flow.

Let Your Feelings Be

What if you didn’t need to fight how you feel? What if you allowed your feelings to move through you without analysing or overthinking them? Feelings are like waves – they rise, they fall, and they pass.

Sometimes, those feelings are nudges, guiding you toward a better path. But to hear those nudges, you need to be connected to yourself. And that starts with letting go of judgment.

Moving Forward with Ease

If you’ve been feeling ‘blue’ or disconnected, here’s the good news: you don’t have to stay stuck. Your natural state is one of flow and well-being. When you stop fighting your feelings or blaming external circumstances, you create space for clarity, creativity, and connection.

So, here’s your invitation:

• Engage with Life: Do the things that energise and inspire you. Make plans, create, laugh, and connect.
• Let Feelings Flow: Stop overthinking your emotions and simply let them be.
• Trust Yourself: Remember that you have everything you need to move forward – no matter the season.

The so-called January blues? They’re nothing more than a myth. When you reconnect with your inner flow, the calendar becomes irrelevant, and you’ll find yourself stepping into the new year with clarity, purpose, and ease.