Thoughts for 2026 Smaointe le haghaidh 2026

Thoughts for 2026 Image of the two faced Roman god Janus

I hope you have all recovered from the Christmas festivities and New Year celebrations as we head into a brand-new year with the welcome stretch in the day. My grandmother told us annually about the cock’s step or céim an choilligh, of 4 minutes extended daylight from the winter solstice on December 21^st. The myth that there was a stretch of 4 minutes each day in daylight hours was not quite accurate.

According to weather charts we had 7h 29m 32s daylight on December 21^st and 7h 51m 15s in January 14^th, which amounts to about one minute a day extra.

During my forty-two-year teaching life, I really enjoyed the month of January every year. We had some great lessons about positive new year resolutions and doing something extra for ourselves, our families or our community in the emerging year.

We also had lessons about the months of the year and their meaning. January and February, which were added on when we transitioned from the Julian to the Roman calendar in 46 BC, got special attention.

They named January after Janus, the god of doorways, and the ancient Romans had a feast every year in his honour to mark the transition from the old year to new beginnings at the start of another calendar year. It was a singular honour for Janus followers to have their favourite saint’s name chosen as the name for the first month of the new year. His depiction as the two-faced saint is interesting in that we look back at the outgoing year and look forward to a new year. It was a new beginning, so his name was given to new beginnings, endings, openings and doors.

Interestingly the word janitor evolved from Janus, originally being a doorkeeper or gatekeeper but in today’s world s/he is a buildings cleaner and caretaker.

It was the perfect time for reflection and making New Year resolutions for the Romans. In January 2026 when we opened the first calendar page we were on the same road to new beginnings as the ancient Romans were all those years ago.

We still make New Year resolutions like they did but we live in a greatly changed world which has evolved over the centuries. People nowadays make resolutions about their own self-improvement on January 1^st and on an ongoing basis during the year in this highly evolved, technology driven, modern busy world we live in. They resolve to change lifestyle habits like eating more sensibly or drinking less alcohol to improve their physical health and financial well-being. Alcohol free drinks are now deemed acceptable and fashionable, and many people change from the alcoholic version to the 0% version of their chosen drink.

Nowadays we have innumerable gadgets on our phones and laptops to help us on the resolution journeys. They monitor our steps and fitness programmes as we set ourselves realistic goals and targets throughout the year.

Many people now attend personal fitness trainers who design programmes to help them achieve their new year resolutions targets. Pilates, aqua aerobics, HIIP or High Intensity Interval Pilates, and general gym classes will be full in this more exercised time of year which is great to see.

Another area that often needs attention in January is personal financial affairs when the visa bills start popping in online or more rarely in this modern era of ours through the post-box. Reality dawns and urgent plans are made to rectify some excess spending over the festive period. Some people try to set realistic achievable targets for themselves and change their financial arrangements for the year ahead. They promise to minimise wasteful spending and to start regular saving. Their intentions are good but come the holiday season it’s time to splurge some savings and interrupt the financial ship of steadiness. The good news is that it will all be the same again next Christmas when people will get caught up in the mania that will occur in the 2026 festive spending frenzy.

The weather for the first week of January 2026 has had a Baltic feel about it. We have wrapped up well, but beachside strolls and outdoor activities have been somewhat curtailed by the freezing windy weather conditions except for those intrepid daily sea swimmers who dive into the choppy, chilly waters of The Irish Sea daily. I don’t propose joining them anytime soon

For myself, on New Year’s Day, I made my annual resolution “To carry on regardless” with whatever I am doing while making small promises to myself. I promise to keep walking, talking, writing, blogging, eating and drinking sensibly and looking on the bright positive side of life.

As I grow older there is less worry about self-image. There is a major change between the younger bohemian me and older mature me. I am now more risk averse; self-preservation and the avoidance of accidents are higher up on my safety resolutions in my personal living charter for the year ahead.

I no longer feel guilty about sleeping late in the morning or having a nap during the afternoon.

I can now take pleasure in looking out the window at bad weather and be happy that I don’t have to go out in it.

The inclement weather at the start of January 2026 was an ideal time for my indoor pastimes of reading, planning and researching my blogging topics for www.aramblersblog.com for the year ahead.

I will publish my new book “The Natural Storyteller “which is an interesting collection of some of my own poems and prose, on February 24^th in Gorey Library. It will be on sale locally and online costing 15 euros. I will update you all with full sales details in my next blog,

The upcoming busy gardening season with early spring flowers to be potted up allied to lawn mowing and general gardening duties will keep me busy enough in the great outdoors i rith an Earraigh or as they say i mBéarla during Spring.

I will chat with you all in February when we should all have a spring in our step.

Slán go fóill agus go raibh fada faoi bhláth sibh go léir gan easpa ar bhur sláinte.

Mick O Callaghan                                                                         18 Eanair 2026