“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws but for potential.” –Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize winner
Now that the holidays are officially over, look forward to January. Think of this as an opportunity and not an aftermath. January is a clean slate, a chance to start over, a gift of a new beginning.
There are lots of things to love about this time year. Nothing smells better than wood smoke mingling in the crisp mountain air unless its freshly baked bread on a cold morning. Even though most of us greet January with a new commitment to fitness and losing the eggnog pounds, everything tastes better when it’s cold. My New Years’ resolution is to lose the winter weight before Spring but to do it with exercise and not self denial. This time of year is all about hot chocolate, hot cider, hot anything after a stint shoveling snow off the walk. The upside is, there is no yard work to contend with.
Make the most of your snow days. When was the last time you turned everything off and did a jigsaw puzzle (January is National Puzzle Month after all) or a crossword or one of those ridiculously challenging Sudoku math things? Forget baking cookies; make some popcorn on the stove the old fashioned way. Do all the stuff you normally don’t have time for. Clean your closet and remember the rule: if you haven’t worn it in a year, pass it on to someone else who might. January is a perfect time to pass that jacket on. Organize those drawers! Now is the perfect time to make room for all the new stuff Santa gave you. The payoff on this plan is that when spring thaw gets here you won’t have any reason to stay inside; your chores will all be done!
One of the projects I have had the Hub working on is updating our records. Recently we discovered our house insurance hadn’t kept pace with the times. We also took the opportunity to bring our records up to date in the event of any kind of disaster. We got a safe for important papers, we have a video of the house inside and out, we took photographs of some of our specific belongings. We got a notebook and jotted down serial and model numbers. He didn’t think this project was all that much fun but could see the value in my madness.
Enjoy a brisk walk about with no one in your way but the neighbors’ cat. Revel in the silence, crunching your way down the walk. Take yourself skiing now that the runs have settled down.
This January think about all the potential you have before you. Go forth happily into the winter.