The days between Christmas and New Year’s have a strange, floating quality. Normal routines disappear, the calendar feels unreliable, and time seems to stretch and shrink at the same time. It’s a period where expectations drop and small, unconscious habits quietly take over.
These aren’t resolutions or productivity tips. They’re the everyday behaviours that surface when there’s nowhere urgent to be and nothing pressing to finish — the sort of habits you don’t notice until someone points them out.
1. Checking the day of the week more than once
Is it Wednesday? Friday? Still Sunday somehow? With work paused and plans loose, even confident adults find themselves double-checking the date.
2. Opening the fridge without actually wanting food
You’re not hungry. You know exactly what’s in there. Still, the fridge door opens — usually more than once — just in case.
3. Picking up your phone, then forgetting why
You unlock it, scroll briefly, then lock it again. With routines off, muscle memory does most of the work.
4. Watching something you’ve already seen
This is peak comfort-TV territory. Familiar programmes feel easier than committing to anything new or demanding.
5. Wearing the same comfortable clothes day after day
The idea of “getting dressed properly” quietly fades. Jumpers, joggers, and whatever’s nearest win out.
6. Planning things you’ll “start in January”
New habits, fresh starts, reorganised lives — all mentally scheduled for a future version of yourself that begins on the 1st.
7. Feeling productive after doing something very small
Replying to one email. Clearing one surface. It somehow feels like a solid day’s work.
8. Eating at odd times
Meals blur into snacks, snacks blur into meals, and the usual schedule politely steps aside until the new year.
9. Re-reading messages or emails without replying
You’ve seen it. You understand it. Responding can wait until everyone’s “back to normal”.
10. Losing track of how many days you’ve been “relaxing”
It started as a short break. Then it became the whole week. At this point, it feels entirely reasonable.
This in-between stretch isn’t meant for momentum or big decisions. It’s a pause — a rare moment where expectations drop and shared habits quietly take over. Most people move through it in almost exactly the same way, even if it feels oddly personal.
And if this list felt familiar, that’s probably the point.