Blue Monday

This Monday gone was what is known as ‘blue Monday’. The idea behind this is that this Monday is a distance far enough from Christmas that the joy and frenzy of that time of gathering have faded in our minds, but the weather is still dire, and payday is feeling a touch too far away for comfort, and to top it all off, it is Monday.

There is no science behind this, it is now common knowledge that Blue Monday is a story that was fabricated by travel companies to sell plane tickets so you ‘had something to look forward to’. However, it rings true enough that people bought into it. So what affordable, realistic steps can be taken to ease the weight of the downward pull of mid-January when the memory of the feeling of sun on your skin feels hard to conjure? And how can tea help in that process?

Sit with tea

Start with curiosity, choose one tea, perhaps an old favourite, perhaps one you have never tried before from somewhere you can picture yourself warm and relaxed. If you are able to pop in to Char’s Winchester High Street shop for this, all the better.

Tea acquired, maybe put on an album while you follow the brewing instructions. If you can make this process as screen-free as possible, your brain will thank you for it. Choose a mug you think will suit the tea. Maybe try a little dance break while the tea infuses – you’ll likely feel silly at first, but that’s okay, you are warming yourself up and tea always tastes better after movement. Once your tea of choice is ready, sit with it in a clutter-free space. Observe the colour of the liquor in your mug. Devote your entire attention to the process of drinking this cup of tea, trying to find nuances of flavour with each sip. Congratulations: you have just travelled the world in a teacup.

Following on from this, should you wish to prolong the mindfulness practice, you could journal a few pages, do some arts and crafts, or go on a walk in nature.

Host a Tea Party

We went into depth about the importance of tea; shared in a previous blog post, but it is worth mentioning again. Tea is culturally significant as a means of bringing people together, and that is especially important in the dark half of the year. If you are craving something in your calendar that you can actually look forward to and plan for, hosting a tea party is a magnificent option! You could even ask guests to bring a tea or cake of choice so that it is more of a collaboration, perhaps even a tea tasting! Run with a theme or simply the gift of a catch-up between friends and loved ones, there is no wrong approach to connection.

Experiment with Flavour Pairings

Perhaps you are a tea blender in the making, perhaps you get a fun anecdote for the next time someone offers you a fruit tea, who knows. If, as many of our customers reading this are bound to, you have a cupboard of teas that you absolutely loved for a fortnight and perhaps forgot about, get ‘em all out and start throwing some together to discover new flavours! Get the whole family involved and act like frenzied scientists on the brink of a genius discovery. Keep note of your favourites, and please come and tell us all about it in the Char shop. We love hearing about your ideas. In fact, some of our most popular blends were inventions of Char’s family of boundary-pushing scientists just like you.

With little steps, little sips, and little invitations of joy, we will get through to the sun’s return.