5 Off-the-wall Ideas for Beating the January Blues.

January is infamous for being a rough month. Blue Monday - the most depressing day of the year - is on the 17th, and many people experience the bite of Seasonal Affective Disorder this time of year. It’s a depressing month for businesses too - following the Christmas rush, January sees a significant slump in purchases as you & I get a grip on the financial chaos of chrimbo.

If you, like me, need some ideas to get those creative juices flowing, and restart that zest for life, then here’s a handful of ideas to get that brain engaged again.

If you’re suffering from more than just misery - as in, if you’re chronically depressed or anxious - then by all means, stop reading my silly little articles and go get the help you deserve :)

1. Plant plants

Getting those thumbs green is a tried-and-tested method of boosting your mood. January is a fantastic time for greenhouse-growers, as seeds - sown now - become ready to harvest around July. Chilli, aubergines, and basil make for great vegetable crops right now - and if flowers are more your thing, geraniums and dahlias will look stunning by this Autumn.

If, like me, you’ve not got a garden or greenhouse at home, then this only increases the range of green sh*t you can plant! Here’s a good list of beginner-friendly indoor plants, and I’ve personally found cacti to be incredibly fun (and hardy!). The tiny responsibility of watering and occasional re-potting is totally worth it when you see even a small bit of growth, or - dare I say - even a flower here and there.

Bonus: this also looks really put-together! If you’ve been in a tidying rut, this is a fantastic way to start looking at your surroundings again with fresh eyes.

2. Pole dance

Exercise has been proven to boost endorphins, helping you out of a rut. But going for a run is boring, and the gym is scary. So, throw yourself into something totally new - like a pole-dancing class!

Jumping totally outside of your comfort zone - even if it’s just for a half-hour lesson - really helps you shake things up. Not only is getting sweaty going to help you mentally and physically, but gone is that slight anxiety - if you can handle a pole dancing class on your own, then nipping to the gym is nothin’! And - speaking from experience - it’s absolutely fantastic fun, even if you do have two left legs.

If you’ve got mates/a partner who fancies tagging along, then great! But the power of doing things on your own is absolutely underrated, and opens you up to socialising with your fellow pole-learners (who, trust me, are a fun bunch).

3. Board game bonanza

If your blues stem from loneliness - or, if you’re generally a more extrovert human being - then arranging a group get-together can do wonders for your mood.

Board games lend some much-needed structure to a social occasion, offering a wealth of enjoyment and friendly competition. Furthermore, a board-game night is one of the few social situations where alcohol isn’t an expectation (which slots in well with anyone’s attempt at a dry January!) If you couldn’t be less interested in staying dry, then hoorah! Board games and gin work rather well together.

And - when I say board-games - I don’t mean Monopoly or Scrabble; boring ‘classic’ board-games. Even if you are a fan of the classics, the board-game market has come on leaps and bounds since the days of Cluedo. Have a look at your nearest game shop to rediscover a whole world of new, exciting games: from in-depth, build-your-own horror house games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, to fast-paced, edge-of-your seat snap-like affairs like Dobble. (Neither of these links are affiliated, I just had a real good time playing them!)

If you’d like to make it a semi-regular affair, then something like Dungeons & Dragons offers a rich worldbuilding experience for a group of up to 6 players, to revisit once or twice a fortnight. The regularity of this is even better for those of us who drift in and out of rough patches - sometimes, having a set structure already in place can really help fend off a depression session.

Got no mates who’d be up for playing DnD with you? Finding like-minded groups through discord or meetup can be a fantastic introduction to the world of fantasy RPGs: here’s the list of public discord servers for DnD campaigns - and there’s no better way to make new friends than slaying orcs together!

4. Make some tunes!

Continuing with the theme of trying out brand new skills - why not learn to throw together some tracks? Free apps like Garageband - if you’re on a Mac - can make for a really fun afternoon. If you’re on Windows, LMMS is a similar app that runs on all existing OS and is easy to use. The Beat + Baseline Editor is another feature to kill for, lending itself very nicely to electronic music creation.

Figuring out what sounds work well together, and learning to navigate the beginner-friendly software can make for an incredibly rewarding few hours’ of time. Youtube tutorials are free and - bonus points - no socialisation required!

Furthermore, as you create music tracks for the hell of it - from synth-heavy beat-bops to atmospheric orchestral pieces - online communities on Reddit, audiomack and soundcloud can be a useful source of advice and ideas, along with fantastic critiques and improvements.

5. Go Rambling

Rambling - or hiking, walking, whatever you like to call it - is far more accessible than a pole-dancing class, but offers all of the same health benefits when done regularly. You need no special equipment (other than perhaps an anorak and some wellies, this time of year), and it’s a fantastic way to explore your local area a bit more.

If you’d like to make it more special than just ‘a trek round your block’, the National Trust publishes lists of beautiful walks around the UK. From Norfolk’s Blickling Hall, to Devon’s Knightshayes - and everywhere in between - there’s a beautiful hike waiting for you somewhere.

Get bored while walking? Here’s a list of fantastic audiobooks.

Need an excuse to go socialise with others? Meetup and local facebook groups once again offer a fantastic way of connecting over a shared interest. Here in the UK, there are 21 different ramblers groups who meet up semi-regularly and go strolling around the British countryside.

Hopefully these small ideas have sparked a bit of interest for you - and motivation to get out there is half the battle.

Have you enjoyed anything on this list - maybe there's something you’d like to recommend to others? Then let me know in the comments below :)