A Gentle January

a Blue Room grab bag

“January is the Monday of the year.”

My brother posted that bon mot during an online conversation with family. We were talking about a piece in the New York Times called January’s Secret: It’s the Best Month:

That sense of having nowhere to go and nothing to do is one of the month's defining features. After December’s rush of Amazon eighteen-wheelers and minivans headed to Grandmother’s house, highway traffic falls sharply in January, and the year ahead, just days old, has the clarity of the open road.

I’m having a pretty contented January so far, though I wouldn’t go quite so far as to call it the best month. (November gets my vote.) And as my brother’s quote reveals, my family’s views of January run the gamut. The weather can be pretty dreary, and that impacts a lot of us. (No weather pattern gets me down more than rain in the winter, and we’ve had buckets here in NoVA.)

The Monday comparison is an apt one. If you have the ability to manage your own work schedule, Monday can be a gentle transition into the week. If you don’t, it can feel jarring and stressful. I try to minimize meetings on Monday and use the day for thinking tasks, whereas Tuesday is a time for hustle and collaboration. Similarly, I've enjoyed January so far because I’m doing my best to keep the grind at bay in favor of gentler rhythms and abundant rest. Rather than nail down a bunch of resolutions and goals, January can be a liminal time of discernment. Not everyone has that freedom of course, and your mileage may vary in any case. 

This deck was a stocking stuffer… I pull a new card every few days and display it on my desk. Hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

It’s been a while since I offered a grab bag, so here are some recent strategies and delights that have enhanced my January.

Keeping a few holiday practices going

My husband got a nasty cold a few weeks ago, and after his lifetime of experience with the Morrison lungs, he’s learned the only thing that keeps bronchitis at bay after a cold is eight hours of sleep a night. I’m trying to follow that pattern just because it feels good. 

Holiday practice #2: I wrote a few weeks ago about tea time, and I’ve decided to see how long I can keep it going: thirty minutes in the afternoon with a warm beverage and a book. Thanks to the British empire, tea time is a beloved practice the world ’round, so this isn’t exactly cutting edge. What can I say, I’m late to the (tea) party.

This blessing

Shared at the end of a wonderful training I attended this week. 

Music first

I’m a podcast addict; in fact, let me sneak in a recommendation for Ezra Klein’s recent conversation with Gloria Mark about attention—our most precious resource—and how to steward our attention more humanely amid the clamor of life. 

Oops.

So yeah, I love podcasts and I’m not giving them up. BUT, comma, I’ve realized the constant talky-talky isn’t leading to a serene mind. So my simple intention is this: music first, before I tune in to anything else. I can listen for one song or one hour, but I’m going to start the day with music. 

A new twist on Wordle. 

I’ve been getting a little bored with Wordle, so I’m doing something new: rather than try to guess the answer in as few moves as possible, my goal each day is to arrive at the answer in exactly six moves.

What a fun, invigorating way to play—challenging in a completely different way. It becomes a matter of lateral thinking. Maneuvering. Meandering. Then arriving at the Eureka! at the very last moment. 

I wrote about Wordle a couple months ago, especially the Wordlebot, which grades one’s performance based on criteria that I never agreed to. Respectfully? I refuse. Play the game your way.

Food

I can’t believe how good and easy this chickpea recipe was, as well as this skillet ravioli. Cozy dishes from the Smitten Kitchen—Deb hasn’t steered me wrong yet. (She’s got a podcast coming soon with Kenji Lopez-Alt. I can’t wait.)

Bookmarks

I write little stuff like this throughout the week on Substack Notes if you’d like to follow along.

Chip the Russian Tortoise

He continues to amuse our household.

Garden planning

January is the month for fantasizing over seed catalogs. Here in the bleak midwinter, the garden is only theoretical, and it can all still be perfect.

Surviving 2024

I’m haunted by this wise article, especially this nugget:

Limit the amount of anguish you take on.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that monitoring tragedy is, by itself, helping anyone.

Anyone else feeling called out?!? 

I would add: limit the amount of outrage too, or at least channel it. (Come talk On Tyranny with us later this month!) 

Books, Birbigs, Bargatze

Reading:

• Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie

• Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness by Roy Richard Grinker

• The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation Through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible by Camille Hernandez

Watching and Laughing:

• Mike Birbiglia’s Old Man and the Pool (Netflix)

• Nate Bargatze’s Hello World (Amazon Prime)

• Trevor Noah’s Where Was I (Netflix)

This week in candles

This shop in my husband’s hometown offers “hope and employment to women healing from lives of poverty, addiction, and abuse,” and their Be Grateful candle fills the house with the scent of caramel and spices.

~

Now it’s your turn…

Do you like January, do you dread it, or are you indifferent to it?

What practices are sustaining you this month?

What are you eating, reading, listening to, watching?