January follows December

Things happening in the new year aren't that far off in the future

I love my paper calendar, but one downside is that the calendar ends on December 31st. I bought my 2026 calendar back in July, so it’s available for putting in dates, and trust me, I’ve been doing that. But somehow, the fact that things happening in 2026 are happening in a different calendar makes them feel like they are far off.

They are not.

There are a mere two work weeks after the holidays and before Martin Luther King Day. I have some tentative February plans that seem like they’re so far in the future that I don’t need to worry about them…but I was planning mid-December weekends in mid-November. It’s the same gap of time.

You may not have this same mental hang-ups as me, but in case you do, we can all remind ourselves together that the week starting January 5th comes right after the week starting December 29th. The week starting January 12th (which is when I do my annual Time Tracking Challenge, incidentally) is right after that, or in other words, is two weeks after December. Groundhog’s Day is a mere four weeks after when people get back from the holidays this year.

There is not some huge gap between December 31st and January 1st. One is a Wednesday and one is a Thursday and time keeps rolling on as it always does.

I’m not sure it’s possible to cure oneself of this delusion that there is a gap, but the good news is that when we are aware of delusions, we can build in strategies to avoid the downsides. I booked my post-Christmas baby’s birthday party back in November because I now put this task on my calendar every year…because I’ve forgotten to do so in the past (January being so far from December that I don’t have to think about that, right?) However, I still had to remind myself to send the invitations . Oh, that’s so far in the future, people won’t be ready to commit, I told myself. But…it isn’t that far in the future. Best to get on that.

If you tend to forget that time doesn’t stop between years, then take some time today to look at the calendar for January and early February. Be sure you’ve built into your mental model what is coming up, and how far into the future these things are happening. The answer is that they aren’t that far in the future. When you know this, then it’s not a surprise.