Congratulations! You’ve nearly made it through one of the most difficult months of the year. January is notoriously difficult after the festive season; cashflow is limited, the weather is often cold and gray, warm memories of time spent with loved ones are still close enough to taunt us, and waistlines are not quite where we want them to be.

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Editors from three countries gathered in the U.K. for our company’s year start meeting last week. Can you spot Ferdy, the office dog?

But there is still promise in the air; the days are already starting to get longer as dark begins to give way to light, and perhaps some of those seeds you planted late last year are starting to come to fruition.

This is the perfect time to look ahead to what 2018 will bring, which is what we did last week at our year start meeting here in Brighton, in the United Kingdom.

Colleagues and executives from across our Healthline family in San Francisco, New York, and Iceland met to discuss what lies ahead for us, and it was truly an inspiring week.

We focused most on how we can better serve our readers this year — and that’s really the name of the game for us: how can we provide the best and most accurate health information for the people who need it?

The long answer involves a lot of graphs and data, but the short answer is: by remaining curious and leading with empathy.

Keeping the needs of our readers as our core concern is what has made us so successful, so you can expect 2018 to be the year of…you.

And what were you most curious about this month? Perhaps unsurprisingly, you gravitated toward food and diet content in January.

The best diets for 2018 was a very popular topic, as was a news story about how a certain food additive is to blame for the Clostridium difficile epidemic. You were also interested in knowing about the top 10 mental health apps.

But the top new article this month was about apple cider vinegar for weight loss. I’m right there with you, dear reader. You also wanted to know about vegetarian and vegan sources of B-12, perhaps indicating that many of you have been participating in “Veganuary,” wherein people try going vegan for the month of January.

If January is the month of trying new things, our editor Tim Newman took this challenge seriously. He recently tried cupping, and the images of his back alone are worth a peek. He describes the marks as “huge hickeys; it looks like they’ve [people who try cupping] been getting jiggy with a giant squid.”

Do you have any suggestions for other curious challenges for Tim? Let us know, and we’ll throw the idea his way. You can also contact us on Twitter and Facebook.

Well done for making it through January. Go easy on yourself, but don’t be afraid to reach for some lofty goals. The days are getting lighter, and there’s a rare so-called super blue blood Moon occurring on January 31st. Things are looking up.

[Marie signature]
, Managing Editor