Those January Days

Well here we are January, the calm and quiet month of reflection and stillness.  I love Christmas so very much that I never want this month to appear but here it is.  I’m not a resolutions girl they always come unstuck, I shy away from all the grand gestures of clean starts and so on.  To me January is a month for slowly does it not start afresh, if you are happy and content with your lot then why try to find something to change?

Its nice to make plans and want carry on improving the things that you already do, I know that my life is pretty balanced at the moment.  There are always tweaks to be made but I do them with thought and contemplation not a big fanfare.  Home and work life balance is pretty good, we down tools and have evenings together as a family, I never work later than I should, it can always wait for another day.

January is a month to take care of yourself, embrace the darker days to light candles, take long soaks in the bath, go to bed early and sleep, eat hearty food taking into consideration your meat/vegetable ratio.  Cooking from scratch with well sourced ingredients is how we like to do it, weekly menus are made and the freezer is always stocked for those busier days.

Get outside too, it may seem bleak and grey but when you really look you can see all sorts of wonderful things.  Taking the time to breathe in the cold air and stretch your legs.  I have a weekly routine of swimming so I get lots of exercise.  The sheer joy of swimming stretches my body but also calms my mind, not only that I have made good friends at the pool where I can have a daily chat and make sure we are all ok.  We laugh a lot too which really helps on these darker days.

Another thing I like to do is to take the time to enjoy the gifts I was given at Christmas, so many of us before the big day go on about gift guides as such but no one ever talks about what they received afterwards.  I have thoroughly enjoyed indulging myself in the pages of the new coffee table interiors book by The White Company with a cup of coffee in hand.   My bath time has just got even nicer when adding Essence and Alchemy bath salts which soothe the limbs, the scent of it is intoxicating, such a treat.  I simply adore beeswax candles and love having a good selection but when you get a lovely box of them as a gift it makes lighting them even more pleasurable.  One of my favourite gifts this year is a little ceramic house, handmade by the wonderful Amanda Banham.  I have wanted one her creations for a long time and absolutely adore it.  My little house has taken pride of place on my mantle piece so I can see it all the time.

So what I’m really trying to say in all my ramblings is let January guide you the way you want it to but always try to see the joy in the little things that make this life of ours enriching.