The trouble with January is that the potential for disappointment is always there.

While we might be past the shortest day, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere face the prospect of worse weather, a litany of broken resolutions and finances that took a hammering over the festive break.

On the face of it things can look very bleak. Some time ago the term Blue Monday was a label dreamt up by a team of behavioural academics and a leading PR agency. It stuck. This year Blue Monday falls on January 17th – but there is no reason to let it encroach on your mood this winter.

FIND YOUR HAPPY PLACE IN THE DARK NIGHTS

Many cultures celebrate on December 21st, the longest night. Long before modern inventions gave us central heating or food out of season, this date was seen as signalling the light at the end of the tunnel. From then each day would grow shorter and with the inspiration of spring just months away.

It’s why we should embrace Blue Monday as a positive part of life. Without dark, there is no light. It is these contrasts that give us certainty and diversity – part of the key to happiness.

As someone wise once said, if you cannot change the landscape then change the way your eyes look at it.

There is plenty to be happy about – even in the mid-winter of 2022 and on the most depressing day of the year (apparently).

So, forget Blue Monday and treat yourself to a cosy night in with candles, a casserole and a cashmere blanket wrap.

GIVE YOURSELF A WARM EMBRACE

A calm and peaceful mindset can always be helped along with a few items that support wellbeing, and there is really nothing like the soft but ultra-warm embrace of cashmere on a Blue Monday.

A perfect fleecy, cashmere top and track pants is the way forward on these dark evenings. Get home from work, jump in a scented bath and then clothe yourself head to foot in cashmere. It is the ultimate in restorative care, matched only by a cup of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows.

The great American writer Fran Leibovitz once said, “I don’t believe in God: I believe in cashmere,” and she meant it.

It’s perfect on a winter’s day. It doesn’t matter whether you choose a muffler scarf or a large shawl, these companions are the last word in glamour. What other season gives you the opportunity to take a lead from Julie Christie in Dr Zhivago or Audrey Hepburn on the ski slopes in Charade.

Scarves, cashmere beanie hats and wrist-warmers still all serve to help us enjoy a month which should be seen as heralding new horizons and not deep depressions.

In the evenings those same luscious cashmere pieces migrate easily to the sofa where we can snuggle up and enjoy a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese or tomato soup and crusty bread. Then light the candles, turn on the telly and settle down in your own haven. It sounds kind of perfect, and far removed from what we’d imagine on Blue Monday!

Here’s to a happy Blue Monday. And a little bit of cashmere.