January was the month with a thousand days that would not die, but now it’s February and these tweets by my friend Mark Larson popped up in my head:

What good is February? I used to think. February is a good month to die. February is a month for florists, with its Valentine’s Day bouquets and funeral arrangements.

“Late afternoon in early February,” wrote Alice McDermott, in The Ninth Hour, “was there a moment of the year better suited for despair?”

Now I think of February as an opportunity. Only 28 days in this month. A good month for a 28-day challenge. (Or, if it’s a leap year, a 29-day challenge!) Good month for something small, every day. A good month to close the gap between what we are and what we want to be. Good month to get off my ass and do something productive with my despair.