BY NOW

Januworry is called that for a reason. But we made it through. What we sometimes forget is that there’s another month immediately following the first one of the year. And then another and another. Yip, it didn’t take long for the hamster wheel to start spinning again, did it?

And so, to help you get through the second month of a new year, here’s a helpful tool called the February By Now Checklist. It’s a handy set of milestones to assess how effectively you’ve transitioned into 2023.

And so...

By now it’s likely that you’ve removed your Christmas tree from your home (if you had one). It was relevant in December, cute and nostalgic in January, but now... it starts to look a little sad. There’s definitely a clear expiry date on these kinds of things. Like hearing “All I Want for Christmas” in a shopping mall on 1 January, and knowing it’ll be the last time you’ll hear it for another year (Here’s hoping...)

By now you’ve thought about throwing away your diary/Filofax from 2021, because it’s been a whole year and you haven’t needed any info from it. And - if you’ve been really cautious - you can probably throw away the ones from 2020, 2019 and 2018 too. Or maybe you’re not ready to be so bold.

By now you’ve hopefully adjusted to a brutal daily routine that doesn’t include an afternoon nap and a glass of wine (also taken in the afternoon). You’ve managed to make it through a workday, and even a work week.

By now you’ve renewed that gym contract yet again. You’ve decided exactly when you’ll clean out the garage (having postponed the original date a couple of times). You’ve given up on sharing your holiday photos with friends and family, even though you promised you would. (Then again, they made the same promise and look what happened...)

By now you’re either on your way to becoming the New Fitter Happier Healthier You that you promised to be, or you’ve decided the You that entered the new year is just fine the way it is.

By now you’ve either given your car the cleaning of its life - valet and all - or you’ve given up on the idea and made peace with the fact that the holiday beach sand is there to stay. (After all, souvenirs come in different forms, right?) By now there’s a good chance you haven’t done this and a bunch of other things on your 2023 list.

Or maybe you have. Maybe you cleaned everything you expected to clean and went to the gym so often that you surprised yourself. Maybe you’re hitting your New Year’s Resolutions with admirable dedication and energy. If you are, you’re probably ahead of the curve. And if not... hey, it’s only February.

And, depending how tough your January was, by now you’ve possibly applied for your December leave. Because, among those New Year’s Resolutions you’re hoping to keep, you feel very strongly about the one that says no more procrastination.