When is bin day?
It’s one of those days in between Christmas and New Year …. When no one ever knows what day it is, or when the bins need to go out.
The relaxed, chocolate and leftover-filled days between Boxing Day and New Year don’t have an official name in English. However, one Twitter user said it does have a name in Norwegian; Romjul. Translated, roughly meaning ‘yule space’ – quite fitting. Other Twitter users have come up with suggestions including Twixtmax and #whenisbinday.
But why do we lose track of time at this point in the year?
It’s because we are conditioned to follow routine and this period between Christmas and New Year, changes our norm and can throw us out of sync.
Explaining how a change in our normal routine can affect us, I read that psychology expert Darren Stanton said: ‘As humans there are certain things in our lives and daily routine, like the normal working week, that mark the passage of time. We set our alarms each morning, our work days are defined by lunch breaks and finishing times – there are very clear divisions of how time is broken up.
‘At Christmas and during the festive period, all those usual markers that exist to give us structure and a sense of security are removed – it is an interruption from everything that we unconsciously perceive. You can pretty much do what you want to do as there are no constraints or demands on your time.’
Another thing that affects our sense of time during this period is a disturbed sleep pattern. Many of us stay up late and sleep in longer, throwing us off our rhythms. When our lifestyles don’t line up with our internal body clock, misalignment occurs.
People are creatures of habit, and routines offer a way to promote health and wellness through structure and organisation. Having a routine can greatly improve your health. So many of us have routines.
If you don’t have any type of routine it is likely you will suffer from stress, poor sleep, poor eating, poor physical condition and ineffective use of time. Routines can be fun, they don’t need to be boring.
Of course it’s also not helped by having to stay in all the time. Then the days really do all melt together. There’s no distinction between the working week and weekend, and you definitely lose a sense of day and time. I’ve had to stay in since Boxing Day, as I tested positive for COVID-19.
Are you back in your normal routine? Are you working on any of the days in between Christmas and New Year? If so, are you completing outstanding tasks you hoped to get ticked off before Christmas? Have you got some specific tasks you planned to do during this period? Or are you getting organised and starting some bits to get yourself ahead? And if so, is working helping you work out what day it is?
I did a little bit of work yesterday, and surprisingly it really helped me know what day it was. I found it quite amazing that getting off the sofa and sitting at the laptop somehow changed my mindset almost instantly. Maybe I should do a little bit more work today too, if nothing else, just to help me work out what day it is.