Three steps to take now to have more energy in 2025

Just as the daylight reaches its nadir, we can feel like we have reached our lowest point in energy. Here’s how to get a boost.

Today marks the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, when the tilt of the northern hemisphere of the Earth away from the Sun is at its maximum and the Sun is at its lowest in the sky. It is also, logically, the longest night of the year.

If you have found the shorter days and the darkness tough, then the good news is that after the solstice, they will get longer by about two minutes and seven seconds per day.

Just as the daylight reaches its nadir, so we can individually feel like we have reached our lowest point in terms of our energy for action and for challenge. And just as the days start to gradually lengthen again, so we can start to build up our energy.

A lot of people use January as a time to think about how to restart in a new and different way, but I think that the winter solstice is the best time to reflect on the year gone by and to allow that nadir to turn into a well-deserved hiatus – a break from tasks and a much-needed rest from the demands of life.

Before we can start to contemplate 2025, we need to ensure our energy levels are refilled and restored. And with Christmas around the corner, and all the expectation, demands and hustle and bustle of that, it is even more important to pause.

So, how can we best create a hiatus between all that has gone in 2024, and all that will come in 2025?

Reflect

Recognising and understanding where our energy levels are right now is the first step that we need to take. What level of sleep deficit are you at? How are your motivation levels? How do you feel physically and mentally? If we are exhausted and overwhelmed, then we may worry more than usual, we may find it difficult to concentrate on things, we may be irritable with others and we may also have dropped the hobbies and activities that give us energy, like exercising or seeing friends.

Rest

We must recognise that we need rest. This may be passive rest, like sleep, or sitting down and slowly drinking a cup of tea, or eating lunch not in a rush, or avoiding multi-tasking. Incorporate more of those things into your calendar over the next few weeks. But, don’t forget to rest actively too, and by that, I mean use your body and move it, start up those hobbies that give you energy like reading or cooking or walking, and build in some time with your really close friends and family to do something quiet and gentle. Movement, our relationships and creativity all give us the feeling that we have rested.

Relax

You may have some time off work and you may mark this on your calendar as being time to relax. But we are missing a fundamental piece of the jigsaw if we think this. To relax entirely and well, we need to help our minds slow down the thoughts and the worries. How do we do this? Well, we can write down the problems that are whirring around in our heads so we can see them and add some brief ideas about how to solve them, so that we can put them to one side over the holidays.

We can use techniques like mindfulness or meditation or box-breathing to help slow our thoughts and help us notice but not judge them. And we can use nature to help us get some perspective by going for a walk and looking at the sky. We can also use music and art and creativity to help us “escape” from our worries just for a short time, so that when we do return to them, we have more energy to solve them.

Just as the Earth and Sun create a natural nadir and hiatus with their movement, so we can create that for ourselves this Christmas.