Happy New Year

Hope your New Years Eve was full of friends and family and fun. I was the designated driver so woke up with a relatively clear head. I write this now in a quiet house as my parents have just left from staying with us for New Years and the fella is at the football.

Last year one of my resolutions had been to start a blog which I have and although at times there have been extended gaps I have continued it. I said last year that I had not been going at it long enough to be able to do a review. I think this year I have much more to show in terms of what I've made so I think my next post will be a review of hits and misses.

This post however I want to focus in a wider sense on resolutions for the year and what I'd like the year to be. I've come across the idea of reducing this down to a word which I think a good idea if not a little tricky to try an encompass all the things I want to look at in one word.

So I've been deliberately vague and gone with Change. Of course I realise that all resolutions when you boil them down are just the intention to change but this is what felt most appropriate to me.

I realised that last year sped by and that this was mostly as there were great chunks of time where I was just trying to drag myself through to some future point. My most common thought was 'Just got to get through today, that's all you've got to do. Get through today'. Now I realise that makes it sound like I've been quite depressed but I assure you I haven't. I do however need to have a good think about my situation and what it is that causes me to feel like this.

Of course to quote Captain Sparrow 'The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.' At this time however I think some of the obstacles are too great for a positive mental attitude alone to overcome.  

So what to change? A few plans are already in motion and the irrational part of my brain can't talk about them until they're more substantial in case too much scrutiny causes them to disappear like spooked deer.

So these are the areas I'm looking to change.

• Change the way I manage my time. If procrastination is the thief of time then I am in for some serious prison time. There are so many productive things that I should be doing however I spend an unreasonable amount of time in loops of online slide shows. There's much more I'd like to achieve this year. I just need to free myself up to do it. This includes not taking on vast amounts of activity so every task becomes a pressured chore. Do less, well rather than more, poorly. 

• Change the way I approach the vegetable patch in the garden. So far really I've just been playing at it. Chuck a bunch of seeds in and harvest whatever if anything that turns up. I'd like for it to be a working patch that we can eat from through the year. This then puts you in touch with the change of the seasons.

• Change my approach to my physical and mental health. Actually bother to take care of myself. Increase exercise and lower calorie intake for no other purpose than for me to feel better. I like to run and feel better when I do. Maybe switching the motivation from 'you're a tubby cow who needs to move' to ' wooooo look at me go!!!!!' may help me along with this.

•  Change my perspective on my skills. Stop beating myself up when I make a mistake. It's ok. It really is. You're the only one who notices you perfectionist nut job.