🧠 Welcome to 'Twixmas'

Today’s Edition of Captivated: Welcome to ‘Twixmas’, & the Psychology Behind It

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“What day is it again, and why does time feel fake right now?”

If you’ve had that thought at least once between Christmas and New Year’s, you’re in Twixmas, and you’re not alone.

The group chat’s quiet, your calendar’s mostly empty, you have leftovers for breakfast, and your usual sense of time has turned into a soft blur. Routines loosen, alarms disappear, and suddenly you’re living in a stretchy in-between week where everything feels slightly paused.

This little pocket of time is a liminal week, a space between chapters where normal urgency drops, decision fatigue is high, and people are quietly craving comfort, reflection, and something that feels like a gentle reset.

Which means your loudest, hardest pushes will often land flat, while the brands that feel like the calm friend, the thoughtful guide, or the soft place to land can build relationships that last long after the holiday dust clears.

In the last edition, we looked at this from the productivity side. This same pattern is true for us as much as it is for your future and current customers.

In this edition, we’re going to unpack what’s actually happening during Twixmas in the brain, why time feels stretchy and motivation feels nonexistent, and how to create experiences that match this floaty headspace for your customers.

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Surveys and usage data consistently show that screen time and social scrolling spike between Christmas and New Year’s, while structured work time drops

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.. How Did We Get Here? ..

Humans have always had in-between moments.

In older cultures there were days that sat between harvest and planting, between one year and the next, between one season of life and the next. Those pockets of time were often used for rest, reflection, and quiet rituals, because the mind naturally treats “between chapters” as a space to pause and reset before stepping into what’s coming.

Twixmas is the modern version of that liminal space.

Everyday structures like school, meetings, and regular work rhythms loosen or disappear, so the usual anchors that tell your brain “this is Tuesday and it looks like this” are gone.

Without those anchors, days blend together, decisions feel heavier, and there is a natural pull toward comfort, cozy routines, and low-effort pleasures.

At the same time, there is a soft awareness that a new year is around the corner.

People are not quiiite in resolution mode, yet they’re already thinking about what they want more of, less of, and how they want the next chapter to feel.

Twixmas sits right in that tension, and that’s what makes it a powerful window for stories, products, and experiences that honor the pause instead of rushing past it.

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.. Brain Science-Backed: The Psychology Behind It ..

Twixmas hits differently because several brain and behavior patterns stack on top of each other at once.

🧠 Liminality and Open Identity

Liminal periods, the “in-between” moments, loosen rigid roles and routines.

The brain is slightly less anchored to its usual story of who you are on Monday mornings and more open to new narratives.

This makes people more receptive to gentle invitations to try a new habit, story, or tool, especially if it fits the version of themselves they are quietly imagining for the next year.

🧠 Time Perception Without Anchors

When work, classes, and regular appointments drop away, the time markers that help the brain separate one day from another disappear.

Without those anchors, time feels fuzzy and the week becomes a blur.

In that blur, people lean toward experiences that feel simple, guided, and easy to consume, because their internal calendar is taking a break from structure.

🧠 Decision Fatigue and Mental Rest

The weeks before Twixmas are packed with choices about travel, gifts, money, food, and social plans. By the time this week arrives, decision-making resources are tired.

The brain starts to protect its remaining energy by avoiding complicated choices and reaching for defaults, familiar comforts, and anything that feels pre-decided.

Clear recommendations, simple paths, and low-friction options feel especially attractive here.

🧠 Comfort Seeking and Time Affluence

Many people suddenly have more unstructured hours and fewer urgent demands.

Psychologists sometimes call this sense of having time to breathe “time affluence,” and it nudges people toward cozy, restorative experiences.

Content that feels warm, validating, and unhurried fits this state perfectly and can create deep goodwill when everything else has been loud and demanding all month.

🧠 The Soft Warm-Up to the Fresh Start Effect

Even before January 1 arrives, the brain has started to file the upcoming date as a chapter marker.

This “fresh start” energy makes people more reflective about who they have been and who they want to be, and slightly more willing to consider habits, tools, or systems that support that next version.

Twixmas is the preview window where people are quietly shopping for that feeling, long before they say “new year, new me” out loud.

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.. Use this Psychology Strategy ..

Here’s how to design for Twixmas Brain so you can deepen loyalty and set up future conversions without shouting over the holiday noise.

1. Be the Calm Friend in Their Inbox or Feed. Shape your Twixmas content like a debrief with a friend. Think reflective stories, gentle lessons from the year, or a “here’s what actually worked for people like you” roundup. The copy can sound more conversational, less polished, and more honest, which signals safety to a brain that is tired of being sold to.

2. Offer Cozy, Low-Friction Journeys. Design flows that are easy to start and don’t require heavy decisions. A short quiz, a simple starter plan, a three-step setup, or a tiny challenge that takes 3 minutes a day fits perfectly. The goal is to make participation feel like a treat instead of a task.

3. Create ‘Thank Yourself in January’ Moments. Frame your Twixmas offers as gifts to a future version of the user. Language like “do this now so January you has one less thing to figure out” taps into the fresh start energy without pressure. You can wrap upgrades, templates, or onboarding flows in a story that says, “This is one small thing your future self will be really happy you did while things were quiet.”

4. Shift from Discounts to Depth. Instead of another round of urgent discounts, use this week to deepen the relationship. Share a behind-the-scenes story, a transparent breakdown of what you learned this year, or a case study that feels more like a story. You can still connect these pieces to your product, just let insight and honesty be the star.

Twixmas is an ideal time for a no hard CTA, just value email or article. People remember who gave them something thoughtful when no one was asking them to pull out a card.

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✌

.. tl;dr & captivated wrap-up ..

Twixmas is a rare week where time feels soft, routines are on pause, and people are scrolling with more attention than usual and less urgency than usual.

Underneath that cozy blur are real psychological patterns: liminality, decision fatigue, comfort seeking, and a quiet warm-up for the fresh start that is coming next.

When you design for that state instead of fighting it, your brand starts to feel like the calm, grounded friend in a season that has been loud and overstuffed.

Twixmas content that is reflective, low friction, and gently future focused builds trust now and sets the stage for deeper action in January.

So use this in-between week to give people space, clarity, and small, meaningful next steps they’ll be grateful for later.

I hope you’re having a great Twixmas!