The threat of January 12

A new year always starts with such promise. That’s what having a long string of days off in a row will do. It makes you believe that anything is possible, because there’s nothing that pops up to tell you otherwise. Without the typical roadblocks of a typical work day, you start to gain optimism to fuel your momentum.

Then comes those double-digit days of January. All of that resolve suddenly dissolves, and everything that seems novel and shiny in the beautiful sunrise of a new year suddenly looks just like it always did in the harsh glow of a January 12 midday.

The trick here is to try to shield your eyes from the harsh glow and keep moving. You have to figure out a way to keep yourself in the mindspace of the days that were all promise and no drudgery. You have to figure out how to rise back above the ennui even with the weight of the day-to-day riding on your shoulders.

It’s January 12, and in most ways, January 12 is not all that different from January 2. What was exciting and intriguing 10 days ago is still just that, even if you can’t block out the time in your mind because of the mundane muck threatening to swamp it. Rise above it, and don’t let it pull you back in.