Happy New Year!

Here we are – the beginning of January, that hangover time of year where all the fun relaxing time has gone and another year of hard work beckons! It is also a time when we are bombarded with messages of get fit, lose weight, stop smoking, start detoxing and get success in 2008 beginning right now. It is no wonder that most people in the northern hemisphere hate January!

I am one of those people who find January (and February) difficult. It is winter, daylight is in short supply and our bodies naturally want to curl up and hibernate for a few weeks. So this puts us in conflict with the messages I’ve described above where society wants us to work hard, be dynamic and solve every personal flaw overnight!

For many years I coerced myself into this January bandwagon and just found myself even more worn out and depressed than when I started. Why do we force ourselves against our natural flow? When it is summer time, the weather is warm and the days are long we don’t make ourselves sit inside, curled up with a movie and stuff ourselves with mashed potato. So why do we expect and demand an unnatural level of activity in this cosier time of year?

Last year I started to experiment with following my natural rhythms and honouring the fact that at this time of year our bodies want to be slower. I learned that it was harder to promote myself and my business in these few weeks and so changed the rhythm of events and activities that I was undertaking. I also let myself off the hook in my personal life and allowed myself to enjoy spending time alone at home pottering about doing nothing much, rather than being the social queen that I sometimes am. I found that I was happy doing quiet activities at home and as soon as spring started to make an appearance with the longer days in March then I naturally came out of my shell again.

This year I am doing the same. My most important activity at the moment is completing the draft of my novel – this is perfect ‘at home’ cosy work. Of course I am still seeing my clients, doing a bit of marketing and anything else that must be done but I won’t gear up and do anything powerfully dynamic until March or April.

In the last two years of being a life coach I have also found that my also business takes on this same rhythm. My busiest time of year when new people come to me for coaching is not January but April and May. Whilst we are bombarded at this time of year with what we should be doing, it is often easier to act on these goals in spring.

So here comes some radical words from a life coach – don’t flog yourself too hard at the moment to achieve your goals. Honour whatever your natural rhythms are and enjoy the quietness of winter if that feels right to you. It might be a perfect time of reflection to formulate what you want from your life but don’t thrash yourself to achieve it immediately. Take small steps and leave some time for relaxation. Make sure you do get outside and get some daylight everyday and then enjoy spending time with yourself at home.

Happy winter!