Brian Bilston, the hilarious British poet, suggests that January has six thousand, one hundred and eight-four days, and I really think he's got it spot on. It might be because pay comes early in December, so the same paycheque has to stretch a little further in January. It might be because the only holiday in the month is on the very first day, and feels more like an extension of December than a January holiday. And, some less charitable people may think that the difficulty is the whole non-alcoholic ethos.
There may be other reasons. I saw a lot of articles saying that it's the weather in January that makes it feel so long. We lack Vitamin D during this month, and our summer dose seems a long way away. Some say it's all the sickness circulating in January, because being sick always make days drag. And one person argued that it's because of the stress of New Year's resolutions, which is why they don't last through the month.
All of these possibilities are drawn together in an article in the New Statesman last year. It suggested that January might feel so long because of a lack of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter in your brain that is associated with motivation and reward. December is full of dopamine-inducing events, but there aren't any in January. Thus, we're not only back to work in January but we have to go the whole month without a party or a Christmas quiz or an excuse to eat nothing but chocolate and cheese. The only thing to look forward to is catching the cold that's going around, and paying off credit card bills.
So, what can we do to fix it? I'll think about that next month. Right now, I'm just feeling too...January.
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