No one talks about the hardest week of the year—because it doesn’t come with decorations.
Let’s be honest, there’s a reason Mariah Carey didn’t write a song about January 5th.
January 5th was the day I returned to work after a two-week holiday break. And no matter how many years you’ve been doing this, that transition is always jarring.
You go from a month full of Christmas cookies, Christmas songs, Christmas gifts—and yes, more Christmas cookies—to a desk and an inbox filled with everything you postponed in December while enjoying the holiday spirit.
So this year, I decided to make January 5th something I actually looked forward to.
I took my son and his godmother to a Detroit Pistons game. Suddenly, January 5th wasn’t about returning to work—it was about seeing the Pistons play the New York Knicks in a highly anticipated matchup.
The first half was back-and-forth, high-quality basketball.
The players were locked in.
The crowd was on its feet.
It felt more like a playoff game in April or May than the first Monday of January.
Unfortunately, my son had school the next day, so we had to leave at halftime. We missed Cade Cunningham and the Pistons blowing the game wide open in the second half and winning by 31 points with the crowd losing its mind.
Even so, I accomplished my goal.
January 5th was a good day.
The Pistons game helped me mentally transition back into the post-holiday world.
Now, how I’m going to get through the next 49 weeks until the next holiday break…
I’m not sure—but I’ll have fun finding out. 🙂