#bluemonday

I finished dinner the other night and as I sat at the table letting my food go down, I realised I was in a bad mood. And not just any bad mood, but one of those phenomenally hideous, I want to sit here and do nothing because all the alternatives are utter crap kind of bad moods. Now, we're living in the 21st century, in a world of possibility right at our fingertips, but as I sat and explored my mood in my mind, I came to the realisation that I was bored. 

Yeah, you read that right. BORED.

Just as though I'd reverted back to 13 year old self, I adopted a policy of instantly objecting to any suggestions Harvey made (some good suggestions, might I add) just because; because I'd done them before, because I wanted to do something different, because I was cold - you get the gist. Anyway we put Friends on, and after quite a while I started to smile again, and realised this was probably just the late onset of a post-Christmas, post-NYE come down. After all, we spend over a month planning for and celebrating Christmas, it's only natural that life feels boring afterwards.

Today is apparently #bluemonday and so I resolved to write this blog post, mainly for myself to refer back to, but also just in case you've got a severe case of the January blues too, to give you some suggestions of ways to cure them.

BINGE

On box sets, not chocolate or alcohol. If you have Netflix and you haven't seen that the entire 10 series of Friends are on there, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING SINCE THE 1ST? No seriously, what have you been doing? I've seen it in bits and pieces before now, but I've never managed to watch it from the start consecutively so I have been ~living~ for Friends so far this year. It's one of those programmes that Harvey and are watching together so it's pretty much all we're watching in the evenings right now; it's also driving me crazy how much I want to watch it in the day but can't, because Harvey isn't home. Anyway, it's just the ultimate in feel good TV and the characters are all just amazing; I can already tell I'll be watching it on repeat all year, and you should too.

GET STUCK INTO A GOOD BOOK

Something I want to do this year is read more. There's nothing quite like flicking through the pages of a good book, forgetting the problems of your present and immersing yourself into someone else's world for a little while. I've picked up two books so far this year, Little Black Book by Otegha Uwagba and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. Both very different books (I think) but I'm excited to read both. Honeyman's book is fiction and comes highly recommended both by Instagram and the critical literary world; I'm a few chapters in and already loving it so I can't wait to see what happens next. The Little Black Book is totally different - a toolkit for working women - and something I'm hoping will help me to motivate myself and make me more productive both in terms of work and blogging. 

TAKE A NAP

Christmas is EXHAUSTING. I for one find myself playing catch up all January, catching up on things I didn't manage to get done in December, and on hours of sleep I missed because I was too busy having fun. I live for naps, whether they're 15 minutes or 90 minutes long, so this January I'll be making sure I get plenty of them. Feeling tired? Have a nap. In a bad mood? Have a nap. Just need a little boost of energy? HAVE A NAP. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

GO FOR A WANDER

Note that I purposefully didn't say go for a walk. I know it's cold, often raining, and it's much easier to stay at home in the warm, but going for a wander in January can be so refreshing. If you're anything like me, you'll have resolved to get back in the gym in January but it's always heaving; so why not pop on some of your cosiest winter clothes, and get outside? I'm a super fast walker, and believer in the introduction of slow lanes on the pavement, so I tend to travel everywhere on foot at a million miles an hour.  Something I really like to do is make a deliberate effort to walk ~slowly~ every once in a while so I actually get to see what's around me, and this is the perfect excuse. If you do go for a wander, look up - it's often more beautiful than looking forward. 

TRY SOMETHING NEW

A new lipstick, a new hobby, a new food, a new outfit,  a new something, a new anything. January is the start of a new year (revelation central over here) and a figurative clean slate, so why not take it as an opportunity to get stuck into something you can get excited about? People always talk about changing things they didn't love the previous year come the start of a new one, myself included, but why not embrace those things you would ordinarily seek to change, and instead try something new? I haven't worked out what my new 'thing' is yet, but there's still a few weeks left to decide - I'm off to the hairdressers this week, so by the time you're reading this, there might be a new hairstyle floating about on my insta. New hair, who dis kinda situation. I've honestly been wanting to post that as a caption for ages, so watch this space!

Whatever you decide to do, you can find me over here on my little corner of the internet, just busy bossing 2018, hopefully...

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