5 Reasons Why You Have a Drop in Mood in January

Have you noticed how you get to a completely different place with the beginning of January? You might be one of those people who feel quite down after the holidays. It will inevitably last until the end of February/beginning of March when you see the first signs of spring. (Unless, of course, if you live in a Mediterranean climate.) Nevertheless, let’s go through the reasons and some tips to cheer up before spring comes!

1. Cold Weather

Winter arrived late November/early December. It’s been cold and dark for over a month now and the most difficult part has just started. According to weather records, the coldest month of the year is usually January. Well, you can’t really do anything apart from moving to a warmer climate; however, you still might be able to countervail it. Find and make your favourite type of tea. Take a hot bath after getting home whenever your schedule allows. Try burning candles, essential oils, possibly sweet scents like vanilla. And don’t forget about your hot meal! Even if you are on a raw vegan diet in general, make sure you have something cooked as well in the coldest time of the year!

2. Lack of Sunlight

Just as low temperature, lack of sunlight won’t help you feel better. On the one hand, it obviously makes us much more positive and motivated when we wake up on a sunny day (which isn’t common in winter either); on the other hand, the lack of sunshine may often lead to low vitamin D levels. According to experts, this can lead to several physical problems and depression or constant mood swings. Sadly, you can’t speed up time and skip the second half of winter to get more sun. However, you can check out different options on the market; one is taking supplements—if you are not sure which one suits you best, ask your GP or chemist. The other alternative is a sun lamp which is supposed to have a similar effect as real sunlight. Click here to learn more about the topic from professionals.

3. Overspending at Christmas

Those who have a big family and perhaps a wide circle of friends are often at risk of spending too much before Christmas. Showing love is usually strongly related to material objects such as gifts. Also, who can resist all those wonderful presents in the shops out there? As a result, in January some people skip their dentist check-up, some can’t pay rent (a lot actually—I used to work in property lettings...). Yes, a lot of people are technically in debt. You need to know you are not alone, plus what’s already happened can’t be helped, so there is no point becoming overwhelmed about it. Make a list about what you can save money on. It could be heating or electricity (check if there are cheaper energy providers in your area; check if you leave your gadgets on sometimes when you shouldn’t, etc.); food (if you buy a lot of junk food/TV dinner, it is time to cook more yourself); drink (make your own coffee at home for 1/3 the price of a "cafe" coffee); alcohol (it is sooo expensive and you’ve already had quite a lot during the holiday season...). We could go on and on with the list, but you will see at the end of the month how these small savings will eventually add up.

4. No Holidays

I know it sounds ridiculous, although if you think it over, you realise that this is quite a long period without public holidays. In the autumn, it’s all about Halloween, and then straight after Halloween everybody automatically starts preparing for Christmas. After Christmas, there’s New Year with all the enthusiasm and excitement. And here we are now; nothing has really changed since 31 December, has it? It is unfortunately a bit disappointing, while we can’t even really explain what we were expecting or looking forward to that much. Unfortunately, you are not likely to be able to introduce a new public holiday in January (although my birthday is in January and we could really turn that into a bank holiday…). But who said you have to lose all your festive mood once the new year is here? The best way is to put some winter music on, or watch something with a winter theme! You can find great playlists on YouTube too or recommendations on sites such as IMDB. Try and invite some friends over for a homemade dinner and film—it’s purse friendly too!

5. In the Deep...

You were planning a lot before the New Year... Have you done anything to achieve your goals set for the year? You might have a drowning feeling that IT has already started and you are supposed to be achieving all the success. Yet the best time for planning is the beginning. Get yourself a planner if you haven’t got one. Put down your ideas and goals, when and how you want to achieve them and what difficulties can come up. Create a dream board, where you put pictures symbolising your goals and plans—you can glue it on a big sheet of paper, use a magnet board, or do it on your computer digitally and print it off. Hang it on your wall and it will motivate you every day in the following months. Remember—it has just started!