January Is Hard (This Month Can be a Bit of a Dick)

January rocks up like 'Right then, let’s sort your entire life out.'

While it’s dark at 4pm, freezing cold, and your bank balance is in recovery mode. For a lot of people, January doesn’t feel fresh.

It feels heavy. Flat. Exhausting. Bleak.

If you’re not thriving, glowing, or smashing goals right now, that’s not a personal failure. That’s a very normal response to January being objectively rubbish.

January demands a lot while offering very little back

The sparkle of December has gone, the days are still dark, the weather is relentless, and real life is back in full force. Bills arrive. Energy disappears. Motivation does not RSVP. There’s often a weird sense of flatness that makes you wonder if something is wrong - even though nothing new has actually happened.

Add in the emotional hangover of the festive period: family stuff, loneliness, comparison, grief, overstimulation... it makes complete sense that this month can feel hard to move through.

Sometimes January brings a sadness with no neat explanation. Sometimes it cranks up anxiety. Sometimes it just highlights how tired you are from holding everything together for a long time.

And sometimes it’s just… dull and draining. Which can be unsettling in its own quiet way.

This month has huge 'new year, new you' energy but delivers absolutely fuck all in terms of joy. Your brain feels like it’s wading through treacle. Yet somehow you’re meant to be productive, optimistic, and grateful? Cue the 'I should be coping better' voice. Everyone else seems to be resetting and thriving... so why do I feel stuck?

Healing, growth, and change don’t work on a calendar

You don’t need goals, a word of the year, or a perfectly curated plan to be doing life 'right'. Sometimes the most honest thing you can do in January is admit that you’re tired and meet yourself there with a bit more gentleness.

Therapy in January isn’t about fixing yourself or forcing positivity. It’s a space to show up exactly as you are: low energy, overthinking, unmotivated, tearful, numb, unsure. All of it is welcome.

You don’t have to know what you want to work on.

You don’t need the right words.

You don’t have to be 'ready'.

No goals. No pressure. No pretending you’re okay when you’re not.

If January feels heavy, it’s not because you’re weak. It’s because you’re human, it’s winter, and your nervous system is doing its best in deeply unhinged circumstances.

You don’t have to do it alone

TL;DR - January edition

📌 It’s not 'all in your head'. Seasonal changes and life stressors consistently make January a heavier month for many people.

📌 Low sunlight, cold weather, financial pressure and social expectations interact with biology and culture to affect mood and motivation.

📌 A spike in low mood and therapy referrals isn’t random - it’s a pattern. And that matters.