My Guide to the New Year

I feel a bit sorry for January, it kind of got the short straw when the fun months were being dished out. I mean, each of the other months have something nice in them really don’t they? February for example, apart from being thought of as the romantic month, produced me….does it get much better than that…?!

So here we are in poor old January, poor in every sense. I get paid monthly, and in December we get paid a week early, meaning we’ve to wait what feels like a millennium before we get paid again. Zero craic.

With this in mind, I’ve decided to try and cheer January up a bit for myself. Surely there’s lots about January to love…? New starts, feelings of determination to change something about your life.. improve your health or break habits you no longer want to be in. But these veer dangerously close to Resolutions. I’m not a Resolutions sort of person.

Resolutions for the most part, I find, build you up then just make you feel like crap when you haven’t achieved them. That’s all they do.

So I’m going to call them Goals instead. Rather than thinking of ways I need to change myself, or would like to change my life, I’m going to think of ways to add to things rather than taking away. Of course there’s always the want (or need, in my case) to lose a few pounds, do more exercise, that’s not reserved just for January let me tell you. BUT, this year I’ve decided to approach it differently. The fact of the matter is, this is me. On a body positivity note – my body has done a lot for me. I’ve always battled with my weight, that’s nothing new, but I’ve put it through a lot with all the losing and gaining back weight, the fertility treatment, then two tough pregnancies and the recovery of the latter does not come easy. And I’ve tried! And continue to try. For the most part I do everything right – I eat well and feel that overall I make good choices. I exercise as much as I can, of course there’s room for improvement there, but with the two boys, and a commute to a full time job, this makes it tricky to do as much as I want or need to. It might sound like I’m making excuses – I’m really not. This is how it is – this is how I am.

But instead of beating myself up about it, which is what I normally do, I’ve decided to change my outlook. There’s some things I can control, and there are other things I simply can’t. I just don’t have all the free hours I’d like to be able to spend my time how I’d like to, that’s life. So in this department, I’ll continue on with what I can. Next.

This year I’m going to add things to my life. I’ve decided I’m going to learn new things – recently I picked up some random craft kits in Aldi, and I’ve surprised myself by really enjoying doing them! Simple little kits, for example one was a soap making kit, another was putting together a felt flamingo – it’s not that I have any particular need for felt flamingos in my life! – but it seems it doesn’t matter what I was making, it was the process of putting it together that I really enjoyed. I made a felt owl and a felt fox for the kids… and more recently, over Christmas, I got addicted to the tv show on Channel 4 – Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas… it was a revolution! There are so many crafty things I’ve never heard of before. ‘Quilling’ is one, ‘Felting’ is another…. who knew these were a thing?! Not me! But I’m gonna give them a go!

I’m the sort of person that needs a side focus. Exercise, for me, is not a hobby, it’s something I do because I know I need to do it. So for me, it’s not relaxing, it doesn’t serve as a distraction or as a creative process, which I’ve figured out, is something I really enjoy doing. As long as I’m creative in some way or another, I’m happy. Doesn’t matter how crap or how good the output is, it’s the taking part that counts!

So my guide to this new year at least, is to add to your life, rather than deciding to change it or take things away. Find something that improves your life, even something small on a day to day basis. Learn new things – doesn’t matter what it is really, find something you want to do, a way you’d like to spend your time. Doesn’t matter how good or bad you are at it – the benefits are so noticeable! For me at least.

Maybe next year’s goal will be a new house to put all my crafted, felted and quilled masterpieces into….! The possibilities are endless.

 Now that it’s written here, I have to do it! Ready… set… GOal..!