The Perfect Movie to Beat the January Blues

Are you feeling miserable, tired and longing for better days? Do you dream of an escape, or a big change that will take you away from all this?

Whatever you are going through there is a story that can help you not only beat the January blues, but set you up for the rest of the year. The film is Groundhog Day, and I have written a book about how it will improve your life one day at a time. If ever there was someone who suffers from the January Blues, it is Bill Murray’s character, Phil Connors. He is trapped in a town he despises reliving the same freezing, bleak day not just for the winter – but for eternity. He cannot escape so he is forced to change himself. The way he transforms his experience of this dreary winter’s day can teach us lessons in happiness and fulfilment that you can use to feel much better this winter and for the rest of the year.

Throughout most of my adult life, I have suffered terribly from the January blues. I even moved to Southern California for 5 years to find a solution to it. I believed that if I could live somewhere warm and glamorous, then I would feel happier. Well, it worked for a week or two but then I noticed that my mood reverted to how it had been before. For, I was treating the symptoms, not the cause of my low mood.

There is no reason to suffer from January blues as opposed to May or August blues. It is predominately a state of mind. Research shows that the weather and most of our life’s circumstances, like money or status , have a minimal and temporary impact on our state of wellbeing.

The real cure lies in shifting our mindset, and Groundhog Day shows us the exact steps. Through trial and error, Phil Connors learns how to transform the worst day of his life into the best day of his life. The weather stays the same, the place stays the same and the people stay the same. What changes is his mindset.

Phil learns how to make the best of his predicament. He discovers how to be resilient, how to be optimistic and above all, how to be happy. You too can learn these life changing skills that are far more valuable than 2 weeks in the Caribbean. A holiday will give you a temporary boost; becoming more resilient and positive will give you a permanent improvement to the quality of your life. The inner journey is far more powerful than the outer one.

Indeed, the greatest lesson of all is that you can be unconditionally happy today and for every day wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You do not need to wait for conditions to be just so. You do not need warm weather, a salary rise, the perfect body or the perfect partner. Like Phil, you too can discover that you have everything you need to be happy now. So stop what you are doing and follow this two step process now:

1. Say to yourself “I commit to being happy today no matter what”
2. Write down 3 things that you are grateful for today. It could be a conversation, a great book, a warm fire or how about the gift of being alive.

Seize the day and choose to be happy now. Follow Phil’s journey in Groundhog Day and shift from dissatisfaction to appreciation, from complaining to celebration. Enjoy the splendour of winter and every other glorious season!

Paul Hannam, author of The Wisdom of Groundhog Day – Improve your Life one Day at a Time