When ordinary life takes the lead

In Villajoyosa, there is no day when the year officially begins. No moment when someone decides that things must now be different. You only notice it afterwards, in the way things start happening again without effort. Shops return to their normal opening hours. Streets are used as they always were. People walk somewhere without it being about anything. Suddenly, ordinary life takes the lead again.

The new year has been here for a while, but only now does it seem to function.

What strikes me in this phase of January is how life resumes without announcement. Not because the festivities are over, but because the ordinary quietly reclaims its place. No one marks the moment. It happens while you’re not looking.

Work without a starting signal

By the third week of January, the rhythm settles back in. Not faster, not slower — simply as it was. In small shops, people stand behind the counter as if there had never been an interruption. Conversations return to orders, to what still needs doing, to things that were already there yesterday.

There is no talk of renewed energy or fresh motivation. That kind of language doesn’t belong here. Work doesn’t present itself differently than before. It doesn’t need to be better — just present again.

What returns here is not ambition, but self-evidence.

Days without added meaning

This period feels different from the weeks before. Not quieter, but more neutral. The days no longer carry an extra layer. They are no longer part of the holidays, but not yet part of a “new beginning” either. They simply belong to themselves again.

On a square, someone sits on a bench in the sun. Not to enjoy it, not to wait — simply because it’s possible. A little further on, chairs are being straightened. Not carefully, not carelessly. Functionally.

What keeps striking me is how little emphasis there is on change. Things don’t need to be redefined in order to continue.

Normality without explanation

Perhaps that is what defines this phase of January along the Costa: life resumes without commentary. There is no need to point out that the year has begun. No one seems eager to leave anything behind or rush ahead.

Ordinary life becomes leading again — not because it returns, but because it never truly left. It simply stepped into the background for a while and now moves forward again on its own.

And it does so not with hope or resolutions, but with something much simpler: continuing, because that was always the point.