Reading the Sunday newspapers last weekend, I was amazed and amused at all the advice and baring of souls the Lifestyle sections contained. Talk about over-sharing! It is bad enough that we are forever being given tips on how to manage Christmas as if it were some infectious disease instead of a happy holiday time. Mind you, with all the over-eating and alcohol consumption, it could be considered a health hazard. I always want to shout: take it easy, have soup and sandwiches, play board games with the family and maybe - weather permitting - take a leisurely walk before sitting down to tea and Christmas cake. Ban mobiles for the day and get everybody talking if they haven't already started while playing Monopoly or Scrabble or whatever your fancy is. That lost art, conversation, is better than anything on the television. Everyone will find it so much more fun once they get used to the idea of talking to each other.
But to return to my topic, we have stars and celebs giving us their take on what they did wrong and how they are going to fix it in 2020.
Before we make out that list of getting up at 5 a.m. to go running, doing an hour's yoga (Namaste!), nibbling on a lettuce leaf, let's just stop here and ask ourselves the all important question: are you happy with you (despite all your faults and not looking like the latest fashion icon, are you happy with the you of you, in other words)? I would say, you are just fine. Yeah, maybe you put on a pound or two over Christmas, or you were rude to Aunty Beth or told the people next door that you all had flu so you couldn't go to their you-knew-it-would-be-deadly-boring bash. That's what being human is all about. You don't have to share it with the whole world. You can tell yourself that you'll try and do better, be more tolerant, use less plastic, take the bus to work. That's all good, but it doesn't mean that you have made a mess of things. It just means that, like the rest of us, you are human.
I have also seen lists which give ten ways to improve your life. Abraham Lincoln said something like "folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be". That is the glass half full, half empty idea. It isn't easy with all the social media cant that is out there. I mean, who came up with the expression "imposter syndrome"? That's just trying to scare people who are doing their best.
New Year resolutions? I haven't made any in years. I used to, mind you. I tried giving up cigarettes a lot of times and one year even made it to April when a colleague brought me duty-frees and I thought what a shame to waste them. (I did finally give up smoking but not at NewYear). Alcohol-free January? No thanks.
The golden maxim is everything in moderation: work, play, food, alcohol, shopping. Life is for living. There are no repeats.
Have a great 2020 everyone!
Showing posts with label new year resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new year resolutions. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 January 2020
Saturday, 31 December 2016
New Year - you are welcome!
I haven't made a New Year resolution in I don't know how long. Long ago I recognised that I am not a very disciplined person so not a lot of use in making myself even one single simple promise to either not do this or that or to do it - eat less, give up smoking/cake/chocolate, get more exercise, get up earlier, go to bed earlier, keep in touch with friends more. No, I knew I wouldn't do it and I would get a twinge of guilt every so often.
I gave up cigarettes but not on New Year's Eve. I have cut down on chocolate and try to eat smaller portions - note the word "try". I do walk to the beach for an hour nearly every day but this is no hardship as I love the sea. These "improvements" in my lifestyle have come about gradually and not by hanging up a new calendar on the kitchen wall. In summer I get up earlier. I try to go to bed at a reasonable hour but admittedly I am a night owl by nature. Note the word "try" again.
I don't beat up on myself any more - life is just too short. People who make New Year resolutions and keep them have my full respect and admiration. But I am not one of them and can never pretend to be.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS!
I gave up cigarettes but not on New Year's Eve. I have cut down on chocolate and try to eat smaller portions - note the word "try". I do walk to the beach for an hour nearly every day but this is no hardship as I love the sea. These "improvements" in my lifestyle have come about gradually and not by hanging up a new calendar on the kitchen wall. In summer I get up earlier. I try to go to bed at a reasonable hour but admittedly I am a night owl by nature. Note the word "try" again.
I don't beat up on myself any more - life is just too short. People who make New Year resolutions and keep them have my full respect and admiration. But I am not one of them and can never pretend to be.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS!
Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Happy New Year with No Resolutions
Happy New Year to all my readers!
So here we are, almost a week into 2016. Soon we'll be accustomed to writing 2016 instead of 2015. All the excitement of ushering in the new year has long since abated as most people are back at work, schools are open today in Ireland and things will soon settle into routine again.
I haven't made any New Year resolutions. I gave this up years ago when I was still smoking and resolving to give it up, because by the end of the first week of January I was back on the cigarettes again. I did kick the habit but that was not at New Year and had nothing to do with any dramatic resolutions I made. In fact, I knew I could not afford cigarettes when I retired and this cold fact together with Alan Carr's books on how to stop smoking were the motivating factors in giving up without any withdrawal symptoms. And am I glad I did give up smoking!
In recent times I have half promised myself to lose weight without actually going on a diet. A diet suggests you are going to finish with it sooner or later and return to your old eating habits. I decided that I would cultivate healthier eating without going into a swoon at the sight of an excess calorie. So far I have lost around 3 1/2 kgs or nearly half a stone over the past 12 months or more. I have put on a pound or two over Christmas, no doubt of that. All those yummy things like mince pies, roast potatoes, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding have taken their toll. The good news is that I can get rid of the excess pounds without too much difficulty - well I guess it's easy enough when all the goodies are eaten, I simply don't replace them. From now on I will be reducing the food portions on my plate.
In December the weather was so bad - one storm after another - that I didn't get out for exercise as much as I normally would. I love watching the stormy waves and trekked out to the beach as often as feasible. I try to walk for an hour a day and will stick to this, weather permitting. This is a great way of keeping my weight down while enjoying myself at the same time.
So all in all, I feel pretty upbeat about my plans. While in Germany I bought a few women's magazines which all had more or less the same headlines on the cover : how to lose belly fat or those excess pounds put on over the holidays and - almost in the same breath so to speak - recipes for chocolate cheese cake and yummy cup cakes. Which sort of mirrors my own weaknesses and struggles against temptation - when you've finished reading the recipes for low-calorie diets, you turn the page and there's the cheese cake recipe. Life's a bit like that, isn't it?
So here we are, almost a week into 2016. Soon we'll be accustomed to writing 2016 instead of 2015. All the excitement of ushering in the new year has long since abated as most people are back at work, schools are open today in Ireland and things will soon settle into routine again.
I haven't made any New Year resolutions. I gave this up years ago when I was still smoking and resolving to give it up, because by the end of the first week of January I was back on the cigarettes again. I did kick the habit but that was not at New Year and had nothing to do with any dramatic resolutions I made. In fact, I knew I could not afford cigarettes when I retired and this cold fact together with Alan Carr's books on how to stop smoking were the motivating factors in giving up without any withdrawal symptoms. And am I glad I did give up smoking!
In recent times I have half promised myself to lose weight without actually going on a diet. A diet suggests you are going to finish with it sooner or later and return to your old eating habits. I decided that I would cultivate healthier eating without going into a swoon at the sight of an excess calorie. So far I have lost around 3 1/2 kgs or nearly half a stone over the past 12 months or more. I have put on a pound or two over Christmas, no doubt of that. All those yummy things like mince pies, roast potatoes, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding have taken their toll. The good news is that I can get rid of the excess pounds without too much difficulty - well I guess it's easy enough when all the goodies are eaten, I simply don't replace them. From now on I will be reducing the food portions on my plate.
In December the weather was so bad - one storm after another - that I didn't get out for exercise as much as I normally would. I love watching the stormy waves and trekked out to the beach as often as feasible. I try to walk for an hour a day and will stick to this, weather permitting. This is a great way of keeping my weight down while enjoying myself at the same time.
So all in all, I feel pretty upbeat about my plans. While in Germany I bought a few women's magazines which all had more or less the same headlines on the cover : how to lose belly fat or those excess pounds put on over the holidays and - almost in the same breath so to speak - recipes for chocolate cheese cake and yummy cup cakes. Which sort of mirrors my own weaknesses and struggles against temptation - when you've finished reading the recipes for low-calorie diets, you turn the page and there's the cheese cake recipe. Life's a bit like that, isn't it?
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