Dealing with procrastination - In the bleak mid-winter...

January is not the happiest month for many. It's cold, it's dark, people are skint and everyone's gone back to work. It's rubbish, basically.

Or is it? It depends on your point of view. I quite like January. Rather than going to a beer garden for a cold beer in the sunshine, I'll choose a dingy pub with a log fire for a pint and a pickled egg.

I've had time indoors lately and I've been glad to get on with a list of jobs that I've been putting off. Procrastinating makes me feel sluggish. I've been writing, printing, recording podcasts, researching and even ironing. I'd rather clean my wheelie bin with a toothbrush than do the ironing usually but I can't wear a wrinkly shirt. I only iron shirts, I'm not crazy. My mother, on the other hand, irons bed sheets, pillowcases, socks...

Motivation - Self Care

I used to be a big procrastinator. I was always late for appointments and it would take three days of terror to find my passport. Living like that now would stress me out. I prefer a little order in middle age. In January, I like to sit quietly now and then and ask myself what I want for the year ahead and what I need to delete from the year gone by. I don't want to carry anything with me that holds me back. I want to be healthier, happier and wiser.

I'll be busy again any day now and my focus will turn out to the world. I'll be glad of my hibernation then. Winter is a time of saving energy and living off the fruits of the summer. Our lives are more cyclical than we think and this time will come round again. What we can do is prepare for it. Perhaps even look forward to it.