Why You Don’t Have to Start in January

Every January, we are told it is time to start over, set resolutions, change habits, and become better. All of this happens while we are still deep in winter.

Although I do not normally make New Year’s resolutions, the pressure still finds me. There is symbolism in a “new” year, the turning of the calendar, the promise of a fresh start, a clean slate. Yet some of my most meaningful changes have happened at other times of year, when I was ready and the timing was right. I quit smoking in October. I made major life changes in July and September. I love a good project in the springtime, when my energy returns.

January arrives with short days and long nights. Cold settles into the body. Grief can feel closer. Chronic pain and fatigue often intensify. For many people, especially disabled and chronically ill folks, simply making it through the day already requires care and pacing. Winter is not a season of becoming. It is a season of conserving.

Pushing ourselves to make big changes in winter often works against our bodies and nervous systems. We’re asked to grow when the conditions aren’t supportive. Rest becomes something to get past instead of something to honor. I’m still learning to pace myself, to unlearn the push for constant productivity, and to let go of what society tells me I “should” be doing. Reading more, for example, is now something I lean into rather than force. My No Pressure Book Journal sits beside my 2026 Slingshot planner, quietly holding the hopes I carry for this year.

With the return of sun and warmth, spring helps us gather energy again. We begin to emerge from deep rest. Winter is for hibernating, conserving, sometimes simply surviving.

As the light returns, the world begins to soften. There is more room for movement, for breath, for curiosity. Seeds that have been resting respond not because they are forced, but because the conditions finally allow it. I want more movement in my life, yet setting that goal while my bones hurt feels absurd. Spring feels like the season to nurture these intentions and approach my goals realistically, when it is warm and my body is ready, not when it wants to stay under the covers hibernating.

Many cultures once marked the new year in spring. Renewal was tied to planting and tending, not productivity or self improvement. Beginnings followed the cycles of land and body.

Springtime intentions do not need to be about fixing yourself. They can be about tending what is already here. Noticing what carried you through the winter. Asking what wants care now.

If January is just about survival, that does not mean you failed. It means you listened to your bodymind. You are allowed to begin again when your body and spirit are ready. Sometimes growth does not start on January first. Sometimes it waits for the light to return.