January can be the best and the worst month of the year for many. It starts off full of great intentions and motivation, but come the middle of the month, many feel their good intentions slipping away. I am one of these people.

New Goals and Intentions

January started off great for me. New year, new motivation, new intentions, and I felt great. Within the first week of the year, I’d sent out submissions, started editing Winterland, and come up with loads of new ideas for stories I wanted to tell. I was engaged and I was motivated. This was going to be my year.

By the time the 20^th of the month rolled around, however, my mood had dipped, and I was struggling to find the motivation to get anything done. The weather didn’t help and the first cold snap hit Ireland, and my mood, with force. The only good thing was that I was able to recognise what was going on and I was able to do something about it. I gave myself a day off. I spent the day doing some housework. Yes, you read that right. I spent the day hovering, cleaning my office, burning incense, and doing all the things I normally leave until the weekend. It worked and by not berating myself for not writing, editing, or doing what I generally do during the week, I gave myself a new lease on life.

Don’t Give Up

January is a difficult month for many, and it is important to listen to yourself and notice the changes. It’s easy to fall into despair. It’s easy to miss the signs. And, it’s even easier to give up on the goals you set. But, that’s okay too. Just because you miss out on a day or two of writing, a week, or maybe a month. It’s not the end of the world. You can start again. The important thing is not to be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a break and spend some time away from everything. This doesn’t have to be a holiday. It can be as simple as housework in my case. It’s just something to take your mind off what you think you should be doing.

My house tidy allowed me to reset my focus and I have to admit, It felt good to give myself a break. The writing will always be there as will the editing. Taking just one day out reset my mind allowed new story ideas to sprout, and my stress levels decreased. For just that one day, I didn’t have to worry about meeting deadlines, about editing, about getting words on the page. For that one day, I had no cares at all and by the time night fell and I was getting ready for bed, I was looking forward to writing and even editing again.

One Day At A Time

January is a long month. It’s dark and dreary. It’s the one month of the year when we seem to be hardest on ourselves. We start the month with new goals and intentions and when they start to slip, we feel like we’ve failed. But you know what, you only fail if you give up.

As the month winds up, I just wanted to reach out and remind everyone that you are never alone and if you’ve lapsed on your goals, give yourself a break. You are doing the best you can every day and you may, in fact, be doing more than some people. Taking a breath every morning, getting dressed and showered and just showing up is a huge accomplishment and everything else you do on top of this is success. Success is taking one small step every day towards your dreams and if all you do is think about writing or editing or new stories that you want to write, you are a success and you are taking a step forward. Remember each new day is a new beginning and the most important thing you can ever do is to listen to yourself. Check in with yourself every day and see how you’re feeling and what little things you can do to move forward.

January will move into February, and February into March and before you know it summer will be here. Put self-care into your agenda in January and remember to breathe.

Until next time,

Keep reading and writing,

Amanda

Amanda J Evans

Amanda J Evans is an award-winning Irish author and writing coach. Amanda writes adult romance that often crosses into paranormal and fantasy. Growing up with heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, her stories centre on good versus evil with a splice of love and magic thrown in too. Her books have all won awards and her novella, Hear Me Cry, won the Book of the Year Award at the Dublin Writers Conference 2018. Amanda is also the author of Surviving Suicide: A Memoir from Those Death Left Behind, published in 2012.

www.amandajevans.com