January is the worst month of the year, plain and simple.

First and foremost, January has few events or holidays, excluding birthdays as they happen every month, to look forward to. January has two major holidays: New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

As for New Year’s Day, it happens on the first of the month and is celebrated in part with New Year’s Eve. Either way you look at it, the best holiday in January is at the very beginning of the month. This creates a problem as, in terms of excitement and celebration, there is nowhere to go, but down.

“I like the beginning of it, but I don’t like the end of it,” Kaylee Williams, junior, said.

In terms of MLK day, MLK Day is not celebrated in the way it should be. It’s a sad truth, but instead of taking this day to recognize the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., most students only think of this holiday as a three-day weekend. MLK Day should be a day of service and appreciation for the civil rights movement.

“I just get the day off. I don’t really care that much about it,” Aiden Burgess, sophomore, said.

January is also used as what I would call a “filler” month. January is just there as a buffer between the holiday season,which ends Jan. 1, and Valentines Day. Unlike other months like October and December, January acts as a mundane month which offers little change to one’s normal routine.

“Part of me wishes there would be more going on,” Amelia Anglim, freshman, said.

For school students, January marks the start of a new semester and unlike the beginning of the school year, the students do not have a week dedicated to introductions and syllabi. Instead, they are thrown into new lessons and do not get a refresher on the stuff they learned the semester before. Students that are coming off a two week long break in which they are used to sleeping in and staying up late can not handle the transition between break and school too well. This, in addition to the lack of days off in January and the ending of the holiday season, contribute to an overall feeling of dread among students.

“You don’t have enough time to start up,” Jaden Torres, senior, said.

January is not just boring and uneventful, but it is disappointing. Most people like to make New Year’s Resolutions in the hope of bettering themselves to start off the new year. However, most New Year’s resolutions end up another wasted bit of false hope. 

According to Forbes, “only 8% of people will achieve their New Year’s resolutions.” For most people, all it takes is a chip to break their diet or sip to break their soberness. The failures of New Year’s resolutions become apparent as January goes on. The false realities of New Year’s resolutions plague an already gut-wrenching month.  

Although I stick by my statement, January is the worst month of the year, I am reluctant to say there are positive aspects, although very few, about January.

For one, January acts as a fresh start to people who make the most out of the new year. For the 8% of people who do complete New Year’s resolutions, they are able to change their lives for the better and leave the previous year behind.

“I believe that if people truly want to change themselves for the better, then they will work their hardest to achieve their goal,” Georgia Simon, freshman, said.

January also hosts the NFL playoffs which gives a great opportunity to relax and unwind after the mundane work schedule of January. 

In my opinion, January is the worst month of the year. It’s lack of holidays and days off relinquish little from the mundane schedule that students and workers are thrown into after the end of the holiday season. January’s negatives outweigh the positives and create the perfect storm to make the worst month.

“Januarys just boring, that’s it,” Torres said.