Where did January Go?

A frosty morning at the Sailing Club

J A N U A R Y.

It’s the month of the year that many people dread, but I enjoy it. First, it's my birthday month and second - I also love the darker evenings. They're like guilt free sofa time. Time to hunker down in front of the fire to reset and restore, after all, the rest of the year is often go go go!

I avoided setting hard and fast New Year goals this year. I always find this a bit stressful and not easy to do and rarely do I find them motivating. In fact I'm often de-motivated because I fall behind (often because it's dark early and I run out of time!) and then feel bad for my failure before I've got started.

Having this down-time and taking the pressure off myself to 'set those goals' and 'plan ahead' (which I know works for many just not me, not in January) has in itself proven to be a successful process. I do feel somewhat rested, I feel proud of making time for myself to just be and in turn found the motivation to make some decisions, to do a few things to set the scene for my next step and each week do a little of something that makes me happy.

I'm good at thinking (in fact some would say a good 'over thinker') and have done a fair bit of it these last few weeks, but with the pressure off and space to think freely I have more clarity on what I want this year to be and the areas that need attention.

One thing I have spent more time on so far is physically being down at the sailing club and out on the lake. Having made the commitment to the 40km endurance paddle I needed to get equipped to be out on (and occasionally in!) the water whatever the weather. I did get a bit internet shopping happy at one point when – thanks to a fabulous sale at Gul - I managed to kit myself with way more than I needed and ended up returning many extra wetsuits, gloves, neoprene leggings and various other over-zealous purchases that I simply wouldn't have had enough weekends to wear! The discovery of the joys of a full drysuit (also from the Gul sale) and a totally unexpected highlight of open palmed paddle mittens from Yak have completely transformed my winter paddling experience.

In the same way that 'there’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing', there’s also no such thing as 'too cold to paddle, just the wrong clothing'. I send silent prayers to the goddess of neoprene whenever I venture out on to the lake at this time of year. Training would be impossible without it!

This month’s takeaway

My group of fellow crazy lady paddleboarders have been on this purchasing and winter weather paddling journey with me and having them by my side this month especially is motivation and joy all wrapped up in a little community parcel.

It’s said that buddying-up with another person when you need to focus will help you both to keep your minds on the task in hand – and the same definitely applies to committing to training for the 40km race. Showing up at the lake when there’s a heavy frost on the ground and a biting wind would be far less likely if I didn’t have friendly (albeit rather flushed) faces anticipated on arrival.

To the Winter Wonder Ladies – I salute you!