To think January and February are weird months?

[KeeG8181]

I've just gone to the supermarket and it's virtually empty, and it's got me thinking.

Does anyone else just find January and February weird?
Christmas and New Year is over so there's not much to look forward to for those who celebrate. The majority of people are skint, everywhere is so quiet, it's absolutely freezing and gets dark early. Idk I feel so bleh!

Am I the only one who finds it really eerie?

They’re fairly bleak, relentless months, arent they? I can see why the rich all sod off on their yachts somewhere hot.

I’m always relieved to make it to feb half term. Always Try and do a few days out and it feels like the start of the year. Then back to work and it’s March and usually the weather is still crap but we have a lot of birthdays in March and things to do so that flies then it’s Easter 😁

Not a fan of January in general but to be honest I love winter. We live abroad though and the winters are cold, clear and snowy. Lots of outdoor winter sports

I'm looking forward to them as hibernation months. No expectations, no rushing about after work - ie no gardening etc. They are the recuperation months ready to get busy again in March.

Jan pay day takes forever, it's cold and dark, I need to lose weight for the summer so the only positive is that I can cover up until then.

Yeah I've got the January blues.

It generally flies by because I've got a birthday to plan for. It was a lovely time of year to actually give birth, hole up squishing a baby for a few weeks, then the daffs are sprung, nights are pulling out and there's promise in the air. I still feel like that now.
It's an expensive time of year with Christmas though.

I hate jan and feb. They are dark and cold, no sunlight once work is done without the distraction of Xmas.

January and Feb are my favourite months - sorry!

Love the quiet, a chance to recuperate. I love the long dark evenings and being indoors chilling and getting on with my hobby, feet up in front of the fire.

July and August are my least favourite months - too hot, too much pressure to be having a "great" time, sun coming up at 4 AM bleurgh.

I often long for the dark evenings then, and always feel better when September comes around.

Felt very low earlier today I hate January (February I don’t mind lighter nights pancakes and shorter month) but if things go according to plan I’ll be off in May I’m counting down the weeks I need good results from a few things then hopefully I’m off.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to love every month of the year for something, because I'm getting older (51! How did that happen?) and not liking a month feels like wishing my life away.

So I'm loving January for the new start, for the chance to be healthier and lose some weight (doing dry Jan as well). I can still have candles lit in the evening even though the Christmas lights have been packed away. I can start planning the garden for the spring. I'm busy making lists and catching up on jobs needing done in the house (slowly, as I'm disabled and don't have good mobility).

I realise this makes me sound a bit Pollyanna-ish, but it also helps my mental health, which can be rocky in the darker months.

I quite like January and February. I find the intensity of the Christmas period to be very prolonged and stressful, and by NYE I’ve really had enough and I’m just ready for everything to go back to normal.
I start to feel inspired at this time of year, thinking about what to plan for the new year, what to plant in the garden, where to go on holiday, whether to redecorate.
The days are starting to get longer, the light outside gets brighter, shoots are starting to appear.
Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the summer, but I’d take January and February over Nov/Dec any day.

I really dislike January and February, too. Still dark, colder than ever and often wet. Christmas lights down. Sense of anticipation replaced with lots of people wanting to stay in, often to save money or detox. We used to love taking holidays in late January/early February but now we have kids, school terms don't make that too easy. Roll on March!

I hate them with a passion, I’ve always said if I could hibernate and wake up on the 1st March I would. Apart from DD2s birthday at the end of January there’s nothing good going on. Hate Valentine’s Day it’s a load of fake romantic nonsense, DH and Is anniversary is in March a day special to us so we celebrate it instead.

I hate the cold and dark. 7 week month in terms of paydays It’s probably because I have SAD too.

YABU OP.

You don't have to pay council tax in Feb or Mar.

Latter February onwards is fine but January is a shit month. I feel sorry for anyone with a January birthday.

At least the nights are getting lighter....

the daffs will be up soon. As long as that squirrel hasn't found them.

then bluebells.

hmmmm i may get busy in the garden....

I can see why traditionally we had pagan festivals in the middle of winter, to brighten up the season with celebrations.

I’ve still got my Christmas decorations up, as it brighten up the place. I will take them down on today, but can understand why people rush to take them down when they are so cheerful

New Years resolutions are fine if they add something to your life, but so many seem to take away. New Year should be moved back to 25 March, it makes more sense to be in spring

I just like to try and go with wrapping up warm for walks each day and having cosy relaxing evenings and early nights. Getting outside at lunch time, in the daylight seems to help

@KeeG8181

I've just gone to the supermarket and it's virtually empty, and it's got me thinking.

Does anyone else just find January and February weird?
Christmas and New Year is over so there's not much to look forward to for those who celebrate. The majority of people are skint, everywhere is so quiet, it's absolutely freezing and gets dark early. Idk I feel so bleh!

Am I the only one who finds it really eerie?

It's a side effect of the fetishising of Christmas. Those who don't care about how big the piles of presents are, and don't care to show off their Christmas fridge don't really suffer from it. They can continue to shop as they normally would.

TrickorTreacle Not everyone has 10 payments, some have 12 so don’t get a break for 2 months

@weegiemum

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to love every month of the year for something, because I'm getting older (51! How did that happen?) and not liking a month feels like wishing my life away.

So I'm loving January for the new start, for the chance to be healthier and lose some weight (doing dry Jan as well). I can still have candles lit in the evening even though the Christmas lights have been packed away. I can start planning the garden for the spring. I'm busy making lists and catching up on jobs needing done in the house (slowly, as I'm disabled and don't have good mobility).

I realise this makes me sound a bit Pollyanna-ish, but it also helps my mental health, which can be rocky in the darker months.

I have to agree with this, disliking Jan and Feb feels too much like wishing my life away just to get to March (when we’ll probably get ice and snow) and on to summer (probably rainy). I like the cosy evenings in January, being able to catch up with TV series without guilt (too dark to do much outside), doing my hobby, planning the year, feeling healthier again after Christmas, quieter places if we do go out for a meal or a drink etc…

Before the children started school we used to go away in the first week of January - it was lovely - something to look forward to after Xmas and once you came back it felt like there wasn’t too much of Jan left. This year I still have Covid and haven’t slept for more than an hour consecutively for days (and haven’t left the house since Xmas day) so I’m feeling particularly bleak.

To all those people saying they hate January but like February because of pancakes, why not just make pancakes in January as well?

Take up gardening. In Jan, once the tidying up after Xmas is done it's time to think of the garden. Pruning trees, sweeping leaves, planning seeds for the year and when to plant what.