Explainer | What is ‘soft January’? New trend helps you start the year being kinder to yourself

For many people in Hong Kong and elsewhere, January is a month of reinvention during which we feel compelled to join a gym, start dieting, detox or set an ambitious resolution. But a quieter counter-trend, known as “soft January”, is emerging. It reflects a growing desire to begin the year with gentleness rather than urgency, focusing on self-love rather than self-criticism. For Tammy Hackman, a holistic health coach who lives on Ma Wan island in Hong Kong, soft January was a personal practice long before it became a label. “January is a tapering off period for me,” she says. After the disruptions of the festive season, Hackman focuses on “gently returning to supportive habits” rather than attempting a dramatic reset. That might mean clearing out leftover treats, restocking with whole foods and gradually moving back towards home-prepared meals. “There is discipline involved, but it is based on adding in nourishment rather than deprivation,” she says. Hackman’s approach reflects a broader shift away from extremes. In a city where long working hours and high expectations are normalised, the appeal of a softer start is gaining traction. “There is a lot of pressure, particularly through social media, to set ambitious goals and achieve more than the year before. Many people are already exhausted, and that pressure adds to it,” she says. “When I ask clients about their goals or methods, they often still lean toward extremes that are difficult to maintain. A gentle reset helps people work from where they actually are, not where they think they should be.” This softer approach is echoed by Aline Davies, a recipe developer based in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town neighbourhood and co-author of Happy Hormones: Recipes to Balance and Thrive. For Davies, soft January is about easing into the year without the weight of rigid expectations. “Usually, the start of the year can be filled with messaging around strict goal setting, detoxing or needing to change everything at once,” she says. “We often don’t always reach these goals because life gets busy and these resolutions start to feel like a chore.” Instead, she frames soft January as “approaching the year with a more gentle mindset and less pressure”, focusing on gentle movement, eating food that nourishes us, finding ways to achieve better sleep, and being less hard and kinder on ourselves. The same themes run through the work of Sanam Thakur, founder of life coaching practice Re:think, who used to work in high-pressure corporate environments. She sees January as culturally loaded with the idea that something is wrong with us. “It’s exhausting because it’s built on the premise that you’re broken and need fixing,” she says. Thakur reframes January not as a sprint, but as a moment to pause and realign. She notes that there is added flexibility in Hong Kong, thanks to the six-week window between the Gregorian and Lunar New Year celebrations. Rather than setting rigid targets, Thakur encourages people to think about their core values. “Starting with values is simply acknowledging what is important to you. Values-based intention focuses on the bigger outcome you want to achieve, the deeper meaning of why it is important to you, so that you can align all of your actions – big and small – to continually move you in that direction,” she says. Avoiding “hustle fatigue” by taking a step back is something that Anjali Harjani, the founder of sustainable children’s brand Malabar Baby, is trying to practice. “As a founder, it is easy to fall into the trap of 14-hour days in January to kick-start the year.” Instead, she is trying to treat the first month of the year “like a warm hug” rather than a cold start. For her, that means emphasising sleep, powering down in the evenings and removing pressure. “If I’m not prioritising my own rest, I’m not living the brand,” she says, pointing out the contradiction of selling sleep-focused products while neglecting her own recovery. “Being perpetually busy isn’t a badge of honour any more,” she says. “It’s actually quite unappealing to be so occupied that you aren’t even present.” For Ada Chan, a Hong Kong-born musician and spiritual coach now based in London, soft January is “a quiet reset – a kinder, gentler way of beginning the year that trades rigid resolutions for small, sustainable shifts”. On her Instagram account @soulmindfulwellness, she promotes simple, practical mindfulness in everyday life, encouraging people to notice and connect with nature, be present without judgment, and carve out quiet moments amid busy schedules. “The posts are both a gentle challenge to our hurried habits and a personal reminder for me,” she says. “As an achiever and someone who pushes myself, I’ve experienced depression and have come to believe deeply that mindfulness is essential for emotional well-being. “I share these reflections to inspire others to slow down, reclaim small pockets of peace, and build resilience through mindful presence.” An all-or-nothing mindset, she warns, fuels perfectionism and shame and narrows our ability to listen to what we actually need. A softer approach, grounded in mindfulness and self-compassion, helps rebuild resilience without adding pressure. What unites these perspectives is the view that the new year does not have to be about setting personal targets. Instead, it can be about recovery, recalibration and continuity. In a city that rarely slows down, the most radical act may simply be starting the year softly and trusting that this, too, is progress. Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter here.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}January means ambitious fitness and career goals for many of us. Wellness experts explain the ‘quiet reset’ alternative that’s catching on

January means ambitious fitness and career goals for many of us. Wellness experts explain the ‘quiet reset’ alternative that’s catching on