This week has seen the start of the month of February, which also has its celebration dates, even if they´re not as well known as those from other months.

For example, February 2nd is marked in some places around Spain as the holiday of Candlemas, or "las Candelas", as they call it in Cáceres, my home town. I remember when my sister and I were children; we used to dress up as "campuzas" (wearing traditional costumes from our region), and join the celebrations near the chapel of Saint Blas.

Ireland also has a celebration for this time of the year, specifically on February 1st: the Celtic tradition used to celebrate the holiday of Imbolc, which later on, with the arrival of Christianity, became Saint Brigid´s day, honouring Ireland´s female patron saint. Interestingly, the Celtic tradition considered this date to be the beginning of spring... Spring? Already? But how can it be, with this cold? Yes, it´s true, it´s still cold, but if you look carefully, around this time you will start to see little new plants sprouting, new life growing, after it all being kind of asleep during the winter.

And speaking of winter, another tradition for this time of the year, this time in the United States (sorry but I forgot the name of the town) is Groundhog Day, which supposedly predicts if the winter will continue for a while or if spring will be arriving soon.

To be honest, I probably remember this groundhog thing for the same reason as many of you, a movie that became very popular back in the day: "Groundhog day", translated into Spanish as "Atrapado en el tiempo" ("stuck in time"). In this movie, a sarcastic and grumpy TV reporter finds himself having to re-live the same day, February 2nd,, Groundhog Day, over and over again, until he finally learns from the lessons Life is sending him, and becomes a much more authentic person,

This plot is so well known nowadays that when somebody tells us they´re "living in Groundhog Day", we totally get it, right? They feel trapped in a routine where every day looks the same. So how can we get out of there?

Well, maybe the movie itself can give us a few clues. On the one hand, I heard or read somewhere that when every day looks the same to us, and the months and years pass by without us noticing, it´s because we´re not learning anything new... On the other hand, sometimes it feels like Life keeps putting the same situation in front of us again and again, and we keep stumbling over the same thing all the time... Could it be that we need to learn a better way to manage that situation, so that we can "pass" and get to the next level?

It´s very easy, and very tempting, to complain about routine and monotony in our day to day life, but that´s how we forget that the power to make every day count is actually in our hands.

So, what do you think? Do you feel like you´re living in Groundhog Day? And which is the song that plays on repeat for you every morning when you wake up?