OPINION: Why is January so long?

We’ve hit the time of year where time seems to stop. As many people pointed out, January felt like a year-long endeavor, especially with all the tragic events that happened during the month. We’re finally in the second month of the year, and though it’s the shortest, I have a feeling it will feel just as long as January did.

Why is this? Apparently, there are a number of reasons the beginning of the year feels so long. I feel like the most obvious in my mind is the sudden lack of holiday cheer. The end of the year is chock-full of festive parties and activities. Suddenly, the new year hits and there’s not much to do. The excitement of the holiday season makes the quiet of January feel that much more slow.

Going from a month of excitement back to work and daily life can be hard for many people. Most people don’t have much to look forward to for the coming months. After weeks of short work weeks and time spent with friends and family, we’re expected to immediately get back to the grind of daily life. Even if we’re working the same amount as we did in December, which most of us aren’t, it feels like much more work because there’s no holiday cheer sprinkled through the day or at the end of work.

Of course, many people also see the new year as a time to refresh their life, starting (or restarting) healthy habits that feel needed to turn their life around, especially after a month of indulgence. This can make the following month feel long for a number of reasons. Maybe you tried to follow a resolution but it didn’t take long to fail. That can make the following weeks feel pretty awful, whether you try to pick back up your habit or not.

On the other hand, maybe you are sticking to your new resolution. Whatever you’re doing is going well and you’re keeping up the habit. Unfortunately, even when you’re successful, sticking to new habits is difficult. The mental, emotional and physical energy that goes into following a new routine day after day can make the days seem much longer than they actually are.

While days might feel long thanks to the pressure of resolutions and any work you need to do, when it comes to the sun, days are still very short. As I’ve mentioned in a previous column, the winter months can be hard for many people thanks to the lack of sunlight.

Struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or appropriately SAD, means people aren’t feeling their greatest mentally. I’ve definitely felt that this year - whether you’re feeling unwell mentally or physically, days feel so much longer when you’re sick.

In addition to all of this, what is there to look forward to? The big holidays are past, we’re ramping up into multiple more months of winter and most people don’t have any vacations to get excited for until spring break arrives in March or April.

Thankfully, despite all of this, we made it! January is over and we’re a full month closer to warm, sunny weather and time with loved ones. While Punxsutawney Phil claimed six more weeks of winter, Iowa’s Polk County Paula and Wisconsin’s two celebrity groundhogs (Bay Beach Bernard and Sun Prairie’s Jimmy the Groundhog) all declared an early spring. Hopefully this optimism continues, we get an early spring and we can all get past the January blues.