For most of my life, January hasn’t been my favorite month. Being a warm-weather person, the first month of the year was always too cold, gray and wet for me. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, where the sky turns gray in November and stays that way until the end of March. While it was typically cold and snowy in November and December, January saw temperatures fall even more. So, the combination of freezing temperatures, gray skies, and the need to walk to school in snow that quickly became dirty slush fostered in me a strong dislike for January and an ever-growing yearning for the sunshine and warmth of spring and summer.

A few years later, I married and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and eventually ended up south of the Mason-Dixon line. While the South didn’t get the same amount of snow as St. Louis, the trees still became naked, flowers still withered and died, ice or snow made its appearance and the cold temperatures and slate skies of January still prevailed. 

My husband and I have four kids and were involved in many church organizations over the years. Because of those responsibilities and since we also spent most Christmases traveling back to St. Louis to visit grandparents, I’d spend the first week in January recouping from the busy holiday season. I was also working as a professional salesperson, and January was when new quotas and commission plans were distributed. I dedicated the rest of the month to determining how I would meet my annual quota. While many others were setting high and lofty goals for themselves, reaching quota was the only goal I had time for. 

For the first several decades of my life, January’s weather and gray skies set the background of a life filled with commitments and to-dos. But, like many of us, as I aged, so did my recognition that there was more to life and more to me.

Spirit guided me through my learning stages of self-awareness and empowerment. Vision boards, affirmations, written goals and meditation became the tools I used in January to attract success and realize my desires for the new year. Success after success kept me motivated. The lack of success kept me learning and improving. These processes worked then, and they work now. They work to the point that I still use a vision board, but I am cautious of putting anything on it that I’m not ready to receive. 

I soon became more acutely aware of the energy that permeates everything. As time progressed and my self-awareness grew, my recognition of the existence of life-giving energy switched from being a faith-based acceptance to a physical recognition. At this time in my life, I am more keenly aware than ever when the energy within and around me changes. 

Because of the pandemic, this awareness has intensified. During the period of confinement and quarantine, it became clear to me that we—that is, the entire world—were being prepared for a shift. When in history has all of civilization had to deal with the same event at the same time? An event that put us in neutral for a long time? When have we experienced so much universal chaos and pain, which we know accompanies growth and the birth of something new? 

In fact, these events have given me a brand-new appreciation for January and all of winter. Instead of dreading winter, I now recognize the beauty of the winter skies and the season. It’s a time for relinquishing the past, taking a deep breath, and preparing ourselves for the forward movement and growth that will come with the warmth of tomorrow. 

Now, instead of spending the first two weeks of the year working on quotas and tangible goals, I take the time to reflect on who I was last year and who I am to be this year. I am still asking what my lesson during our recent period of dormancy was and how I am to apply it today and as we move into a new year. I now choose to appreciate the month of January and all the preparation for growth that is being cultivated, unseen, beneath the surface. 

Because I know we’re all in this together, I choose to see humanity reaching a new level of understanding and love in 2024 and to recognize the part I play in that movement. That’s the picture on my vision board this year. 

Happy New Year. ❧

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Linda Minnick is a speaker, author, life coach and Preferred PSYCH-K facilitator. She lives in Roswell with her husband, John. Her most recent book, New Day, New Life, can be found on Amazon.