ChaiWithPriya: A quiet celebration of January

The festive period is over, Christmas trees are being put away and soon decorative lights will be removed from Main Street.

Most of us have spent too much, eaten too much and drank too much in the run-up to the holiday period.

After busy shopping days and the merriment of the Cavalcade parade, the town area feels too quiet and empty.

And if the recent inclement weather is anything to go by, it has been one of the coldest and wettest winters I can remember in recent years.

While family and friends living abroad have sent photographs of snowy gardens and rooftops, it feels all I’ve seen when I look out of my balcony is rain or gloomy skies.

It truly is time for the January blues to set in. The days are still too short for my liking, the weather is too cold, and it’s time to go into hiding to work on those New Year resolutions until they fall by the wayside.

It is also the time of the year when we celebrate some birthdays in my family and my father’s birthday on January 4 always marks the last day of indulgence before actively trying to make an effort to stick to any resolutions.

Technically it falls within the 12 days of Christmas so it feels like it’s still a continuation of the festive period.

But I remember being in the UK and celebrating a friend’s birthday and the end of January, and feeling sorry for him because it felt like no one bothered to make an effort.

It made me wonder what it is like to celebrate a birthday just as people are making renewed commitments to start a new diet, begin exercising or giving up alcohol or sugar or smoking for the new year.

I reached out to those nearest and dearest and asked what January birthdays were like for them.

One of my friends celebrated with a family trip to Malaga this year, but said he broke most resolutions by his birthday which falls on the second.

“Birthdays are generally a bit of a downer as an adult, no?” he replied.

After weeks of indulging and partying and spending too much time with family, it’s hard to work up an appetite to even celebrate in a grand manner.

Another said the thing she looks forward to the most are the January sales.

She also thought her birthday was a public holiday for years until she entered the workforce and realised she had to work on her birthday.

“After seeing all my friends getting drunk for a whole month, it’s annoying when they don’t want to join me for a piss-up on my birthday,” she said.

While I was at university, my best friend from Istanbul would not take no for an answer to celebrating her birthday.

We started a little tradition.

For three years, every January, a small group of us would get dressed up and head over to Nobu with no issues in getting a booking and eating as much sushi and drinking as much champagne as we could manage.

But while that was fun during my university days, these days celebrations look very different.

A friend whose birthday falls on January 24 said she has started to enjoy her fuss-free birthday celebrations.

“Most people are broke, waiting for pay day, or upset with themselves for giving up or nearly breaking their New Year resolutions,” she said.

“Birthday celebrations when I was younger would be a massive disappointment because it felt like no one would make an effort, but they are more low-key these days.”

“It’s either a coffee and a catch-up, or a walk to the beach if the weather is nice, or a shopping trip to Spain to catch a bargain, it’s spending the day with those closest that matters.”

For my part, the past few years the countdown to January did not feel like much of a celebration but more of a Long Covid anniversary which I came to dread, marking the number of years since I became unwell.

As I enter into my fifth year, it comes with a lot of acceptance and healing. While I am generally much better, I let go of the old me and accept that I will never go back to my old pre-Covid life.

And, with that, my January this year will look very different.

I am looking forward to slower days, of evenings and weekends at home cooking, reading, spending time crocheting my big winter project this year and resting.

It is not all January blues because before we know it the days will be longer, the weather will be warmer, and it feels like the world comes back to life again.

Right now, we are in the dead of winter when nature is resting until its renewal.

It is only right that, as humans, we do it too.