The January Deload

I've been doing January wrong.

Friends, I have a lot here. I am about to tell you about seasonal lag and my dead Christmas tree. Get excited.

Here’s how this whole thing started: In years past, I was a December 26th tree-down girl. Clean slate energy baby!! This year, I couldn’t bring myself to take it down. I wanted to sit on my couch, look at my tree, and exhale, knowing there was nowhere I needed to be. No presents that needed wrapping. No parties or school concerts to attend. Just…space.

I did this for a couple of days, and despite its rapidly dropping pine needles I still couldn’t bring myself to take it down. The tree came to serve as this physical reminder of all that had just happened, and every time I would pass it I would remember. It was like the tree was saying, “Hey Kate, you just shopped and planned and wrapped and cooked and celebrated. I’m not even fully dead yet! You can chill.”

And in those weeks, I started to realize: I think I have been doing January completely wrong.

Have you ever been irrationally cranky and your spouse suggests a nap — and then you wake up and suddenly the world feels manageable again? That’s what I think January is meant to be. January is the nap. We don’t need to be making big life decisions when we’re exhausted. We need rest.

In writing this, I did a little research on how nature lines up with the winter months, and I learned about seasonal lag (I think this is so cool!) While the shortest day of the year (the winter solstice) was technically December 21st, meaning from here on out the days will get longer (yay!), the delay between sunlight increasing and temperatures rising is called seasonal lag. After December 21st the sun gives us slightly more light each day but not enough to overcome all the stored cold, so temperatures continue dropping for 4–6 weeks after the solstice. In short: more light, but still more cold.

If you’re feeling a bit wrung out and unable to hustle, I am right there with you. And I wonder if we aren’t out of sync but actually the ones more in sync with what is already happening in nature. We, too, have seasonal lag.

Now here’s where I think things get really, really good. January is cold, and the plants look dead. Plants in January, however, are not dead, they are dormant. These are very different things. Dead plants do not use energy; they have no need to. Dormant plants, however, conserve energy, knowing they will need it later.

Maybe the reason I don’t want to hustle in January isn’t because I’m failing — maybe it’s because I’m doing something right. My beloved Christmas tree is now long dead, but I am not dead! I’m like the plants – dormant – conserving energy in these dark winter days.

December was busy. We expended a ton of energy. But January invites a slowness.

January doesn’t hustle. I don’t have to hustle.

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Now, what does this look like practically? Especially for those wanting some freshness post holiday binge?

Because I love to exercise, a good way for me to think about January is as a deload month. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, deloading is when you take a specific amount of time off from harder workouts in order to better help your muscles recover. Instead of working out in the 80-90% intensity, you workout in the 60-70% intensity. This is done to prevent burnout, decrease inflammation, and give your muscles time to recover so that you can come back stronger. But notice, you don’t stop everything all together, you just take it as a slower intensity.

Here’s how I am “deloading” in January:

1. Making hot meals that can be eaten for multiple days: I can cook a big pot of soup and eat for days. Plus, it’s more gentle on my digestive system and a great way to get in veggies I might otherwise not eat or don’t enjoy eating raw. Really a win all around. I am also eating a lot of things out of my freezer, giving me a break from cooking.

Meals I made in January: Bella’s Taco Soup, Caro’s White Chicken Chili from the freezer (from her cookbook), I store-bought a higher end tomato soup from Whole Foods and sourdough bread for a fancier grilled cheese night..

2. Going for a morning walk each day: I do not enjoy the cold, but each morning I am forced to walk outside for Annie’s sake (our dog). While I do not love the first few steps, within a few minutes, I feel the morning sun on my face and it really has become this part of my routine I look forward to. Getting that vitamin D in the morning greatly helps my mood.

3. Leaning hard into the darker evenings and limiting evening activities: because it gets darker earlier, I can make a point to dim the overhead lights (or switch to lamps) in the evenings. This makes it easier to get to bed at a decent hour. Also, December was busy, and thankfully January is way less so. By 5pm I want to be in cozy clothes with the lights dimmed. I have also been leaning hard into a bathtub spa situation I promise to share more on soon. This in and of itself feels like a huge treat, and I am sleeping better than I have in a long time.

4. Scrolling less. I shared about this already but I am loving the Brick. What I am realizing is because my job is online, oftentimes when I scroll I feel like I am not working enough. I see someone post a new recipe (I need to post more recipes!) or a carousel with useful tips (I need to share more tips!). When I look at social media less, I feel less behind, and therefore less of a need to hustle.

5. I am still resetting my home (which I historically love to do at the beginning for the year), but at a deload pace. I have done the living room, kitchen part 1, and my bathroom. I have actually really enjoyed moving slower and have made quite a few small changes that are really impacting our home. It’s reminding me I am not on a clock; there’s no trophy for finishing first. Results don’t have to be rushed to be noticed.

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I apologize that I am getting this to you as January comes to a close. But it took me a solid two weeks to process it and then another week to get it on paper. But hopefully it will be top of mind next January, or simply call it February Deload and now we are all right on track again.

Do you resonate with any of this? Have anything to add?

I would love to hear!

Thanks for reading,

Kate