Where To Now…

I’ve been in somewhat of a strange mood since bringing in the new year. You could even say a rut.

So much time and energy is spent before Christmas preparing for the holidays and the year’s end, with all the promise of celebration, relaxation, and resolve. Both consciously and subconsciously, as the year draws to a close, I feel we all long for the year to be over. Ragged and exhausted from events of the past 12 months (which is nothing more than simply life) we slowly start to wind down, start to check out, start to breathe a sigh of relief. Then of course Christmas comes and goes, followed by a short break, and then we welcome in the new year.

Hang on, WHAT? I’m not even ready for the new year…

But the new year surely comes and it is a time to take stock, resolve to make some changes, and start afresh. But has anything actually changed other than the date? Don’t get me wrong, I get the cathartic benefits of mentally wiping the slate clean and taking a moment to both reflect and project, but for many of us our lives have not changed. We return to the same job, the same home, the same problems, and the same life as that in 2012. Anyone else feeling a little seduced by the notion of Christmas and New Year or is it just me?

Before you all shutdown your browser (which you may have understandably already done) for fear of entering a severely depressive state, I guess my point is not that nothing will change but rather whether this pattern of winding down for the year does us any good? Because I for one have lost my momentum and my mojo…

Hey, I’m not saying we don’t all need a holiday from time to time, but the ‘silly season’ surreptitiously offers you more than a break – it promises a new start, change, a better year. But for what? Just because the calendar has flicked over?

So tell me, is this really what we need? I guess it could be if you’ve had a really, really bad year… in which case – Happy New Year! and my sincere apologies for ruining the fantasy. Or does it just make getting back into everyday life even harder?

Photo taken on a particularly thought provoking morning on the Ganges in Varanasi, India