With less than a month until Blue Monday, the St. Christopher Fund is taking a moment to recognize what is often referred to as “the saddest day of the year.” The depths of winter, combined with shorter daylight hours, waning motivation to stick to New Year’s resolutions, and post-holiday financial stress can cause many to feel emotionally drained. As it stands, January 19, 2026, is on track to be a glum day. However, the St. Christopher Fund (SCF) hopes to help you beat the winter blues, starting with a little glimmer.
Blue Monday, recognized on the third Monday in January, serves as an acknowledgment of the many factors that affect mental health and the importance of prioritizing self-care during an emotional low. Despite having an official date, emotional lows can happen at any time for any reason, some of which may even be hard to put a finger on. It is important to reach out for help when needed, but what happens when we don’t feel that we need professional support, but still don’t quite feel like ourselves? As it turns out, this may be the perfect place to identify a glimmer.
To best define a glimmer, I find it easiest to start with the exact opposite, a trigger. A trigger is something that initiates a thought or feeling and generally has a negative connotation. Triggers could be big and obvious like an argument with a loved one. They can also come in the form of a sound, a smell, or a sad memory. At times, a trigger can even feel more intangible like a tone of voice or a shift of energy in the room.
Glimmers, therefore, are the things we experience in our day-to-day lives that lead us to feel joyful, at peace, calm, hopeful, and in awe. In times of feeling emotionally low, it can be hard to recognize glimmers around us, which makes their presence, and our awareness of their presence, that much more important.
Similar to triggers, glimmers can present themselves in some of the most important moments of our lives such as the birth of a child, getting married, purchasing a new home, and welcoming home a new pet. They also can be found in mundane moments like the warmth of sunshine on your face, stepping on an especially crunchy leaf, the first bite of a home-cooked meal, and finding a lucky penny in the parking lot. Glimmers can even be found in the intangible. It’s easy to find comfort in freshly washed sheets or a faint sign of hope on a particularly hard day.
Comparatively, though, glimmers hold a very powerful ability, the ability to provide hope and optimism. The idea that loved ones visit us in the form of a cardinal or a butterfly and feel-good news stories about people helping their community are examples of glimmers that serve to help us feel more connected, less alone, and restore our faith. A rainbow after a storm also serves as a reminder that the hard days will pass.
We start off in the world finding amazement in the most minute of experiences, and somewhere along the way, we lose that. Sometimes, we just need a little nudge to find that sense of awe all over again. Glimmers serve as a reminder to slow down and inhale the positivity, to appreciate the small things, to find a speck of optimism in a sea of negativity, and to get in touch with our childlike sense of wonder.
Truthfully, there is no solid research to support the idea of Blue Monday, but there is a lot of science that supports the idea of glimmers supporting a happier, healthier version of ourselves. Glimmers serve as a form of stress management that help to boost our mood, reduce anxiety and health risks associated with stress, and calm our overactive nervous systems.
You can magnify the effect of the glimmers you notice by writing them down, sharing your experiences with a friend, and intentionally seeking out and remaining present with a glimmer.
As with all things, sometimes it is worth calling in the experts. Despite our best efforts, there are times when it is important to consider professional mental health support in the form of counseling and/or medication treatment. Seeking help is not a sign of failure, but rather a sign of strength. Asking for help is hard! The St. Christopher Fund has partnered with a number of telehealth counseling services to help make that first step a little easier. You can find these resources and more on our website at truckersfund.org/telehealth where you’ll have access to both short-term and long-term counseling options as well as discounts offered specifically to the trucking community.
From the St. Christopher Fund Family to you and yours, we’re wishing you a merry and bright holiday season and safe travels!
For more information on health and wellness programs offered by St. Christopher Fund, please visit truckersfund.org or contact our Health & Wellness Manager, Lindsey Bryan, at health@truckersfund.org.