If you feel stressed or think you’re falling behind because it’s already February, take a deep breath and know this:
You’re not alone and you’re not behind.
As someone who once danced to the relentless rhythm of high achievement and Type-A++ thinking, it has taken me years to shed the cultural conditioning that we must jump out of the gate on January 1st.
Clocks and calendars are man-made inventions that have no basis in nature’s rhythms.
There’s no greater proof of this than February. In a normal year, it has only 28 days. And once every 4 years it gets an extra day to account for the fact that “24 hours in a day” is also made up.
It took me a long time to give myself permission to create systems and schedules that aligned with the rhythms of nature and honored my personal rhythms.
For years, I’ve been following the ancient practice of aligning my life rhythms with the Wheel of the Year: the cycle of equinoxes, solstices, and cross-quarter days.
Each year I write that January 1 is not the best time to start the year.
Our culture is gradually catching on to the importance of rest and observing the cycles of the seasons. In fact, the New York Times recently declared February to be the best month for “resolutions.”
Even with this slow cultural shift acknowledging nature’s rhythms, the pressure to burst out of the gate in January can exert a strong pull. Despite teaching and living by the cycles of the seasons, I still can get caught up in the illusion that “things must start on January 1.”
So if you’re feeling like you missed the train on the start of the year, rest assured that you’re not the only one, and that you’re right on time.
3 Reasons Why February is the Right Time to Start Planning Your Year
Here are 3 reasons why February is the right time to start planning your year:
(1) January is Too Much Pressure
Let’s talk about January—the month society has crowned as the gateway to new beginnings.
As I’ve written in the past, January is the worst time to start new habits or rituals.
The truth is, most resolutions set during this time crumble before January ends.
It’s widely reported that 80% of people who set “New Year’s resolutions” quit them or fail within the first 2 weeks of the year.
This isn’t meant to discourage.
The societal pressure of “starting fresh” in January can create an expectation that we sprint out of the starting gate before warming up — causing us to fall before we’ve even truly started.
Rather, it’s a call to reassess your timing—and to refrain from beating yourself up if you’ve already stumbled out of the gate.
January, with its high societal expectations, often sets us up for a fall.
It’s as if we’re expected to sprint without first warming up, leading many to stumble out of the gate or get injured in the first quarter mile.
Rushing out of the starting gate does you no good if you haven’t clarified where you’re going and whether you truly desire to go there.
(2) We Need Rest and Recovery Before We Dream and Plan
January is a time for rest and catching our breath, not for frenetic goal setting.
From Thanksgiving through the end of the year, we’re swept into a whirlwind of gatherings, travel, and consumption. By the time January rolls around, our nervous systems are frazzled. The end of the year madness can cause us to get stuck in fight-or-flight mode, making it impossible to truly vision the year ahead.
Our primitive nervous systems don’t know the difference between encountering a bear in the woods and feeling the stress of too much family time.
The whirlwind of holiday events puts our nervous systems in fight-or-flight mode. In this state, it’s impossible to vision the year ahead. We need time to rest and recharge before we can dream about the future, let alone plan for it.
In this state of overwhelm and stress, its focus is on immediate survival — it has no bandwidth to plan for the future.
In addition, the end-of-year activities can bring up emotions that require processing. Disappointments and losses must be grieved. This is what the winter is for.
Nature itself cycles through periods of exertion and rest, of blooming and fading. To align with these rhythms means acknowledging the need for emptiness—a space where new dreams can germinate.
Without this pause, we’re merely filling space, not creating from a place of renewal.
(3) Aligning with Nature’s Cycles
February 1st marks Imbolc, an ancient festival that beautifully symbolizes this transition from release to renewal.
Imbolc is one of the “cross-quarter” days; it marks the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The word Imbolc means “belly,” signifying the womb of creation. In ancient times, it was a time to reaffirm life and start thinking about what to plant in the upcoming spring, when the ground thaws.
Imbolc invites us to start slowly awakening from our rest, to begin envisioning what lies ahead as the earth itself slowly begins to stir from slumber.
Imbolc is gentle reminder that growth begins in the darkness, in the unseen, where our deepest roots take hold before reaching for the light.
The Best Time for New Beginnings
The best time for new beginnings is when you’re ready for them, not when a calendar says you should be.
Life is not a race. And even if it were, they don’t give prizes for being the first out of the gate.
Taking time to consider where you want to go and how you want to get there is more important than rushing out of the starting gate only to end up where you don’t want to be.
Nature doesn’t rush, and neither should we. February is the perfect time to begin culling the seeds you want to plant when ground thaws.
In my real estate business, people often ask me “how’s the market?” as they wonder whether it’s a “good time” to buy or sell. And what I tell them is the same advice I give to you about starting your year:
The best time for new beginnings is when you’re ready for them, not when a calendar says you should be.
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