What’s that thing about New Year’s resolutions?

Some people say they are useless, if you want to change something you can do that anytime of the year, the 1st of January is a day like any other.

They are right, of course. Every day is a new part of your life. One day is like the smallest unit we use to divide our lives – which does not mean that not any second, minute and hour counts, but these measurements are probably too small for anything like resolutions. The next step would be one week and when it comes to resolutions, it’s mainly Mondays we choose to start something new. And after a week, we have divided our time into months. Now that’s a bigger step, don’t you think? We only have 12 of those in one year (as opposed to 52 weeks or 365 days), so choosing a month is an even bigger thing. If we mess it up we have to wait about 30 days for a new month to come, so the pressure is on.

And here we are at the start of a new year – that’s huge! For a new year we choose to change the things that are really hard, try to get rid of our worst habits: We want to give up the cigarettes, we want to lose weight, we promise ourselves to start exercising – and we want to do it all at once, because a new year means the beginning of a longer time span, in which we are really able to achieve something. If we manage to not smoke for a year, not to overeat for 12 months or exercise regularly for 365 days we will see a result before the beginning of the next one.

And this is the reason why so many of us fail in sticking to their New Year’s resolutions: Because we choose the big things to change at the start of the new year, it takes a good while until we start seeing the results. When we try to quit smoking we cannot be sure we are really over our addiction until a few months have passed. Losing weight doesn’t happen in a few days, it’s a process that requires discipline over a long time. Exercising will only make us feel fitter if we stick to it on a regular basis, putting on your trainers 3 times a week until the end of January isn’t the point, it’s still doing it in May and afterwards.

So it’s all about discipline in the long run, that’s what makes our resolutions a success or failure. We have to find a day to start, and yes, it could be any day, but the 1st of January is a special one for us celebrating it as the start of the new year. And making resolutions is the start to changing your life and becoming what you want to become – and we all have the ability to do just that.

So do you have any resolutions for 2010? Is there something you want to start working on from next Friday and stick to it for the next 12 months?

I share mine with thousands of people: For me it’s finally quitting smoking for good. Don’t worry, I am not going to bore you with this, because if you don’t smoke and never have you have no idea what that really means, if you have quit in the past you know all about it anyway and if you do smoke and don’t intend to quit you don’t want to read about it – it just makes you light up the next one even faster.

If you have a resolution for 2010 just remember: A year from now you wish you had started today!

I wish all of you a good 2010, lots of happy times and that you have the strength and discipline to stick to your resolutions!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

It's finally here - the Christmas holidays and Christmas Eve! Am I in a Christmas mood by now? Well, a bit. The weather certainly helps, it has been frrrrrrreezing cold here for the last few days, everything is covered with frost which loks really pretty, the days are clear and sunny, almost perfect - although I am still hoping for a bit of snow.

I finally decorated the dining room yesterday while enjoying a mug of hot Whiskey, we did our Christmas grocery shopping in the evening and are all set now. A friend I know from my horseriding will come with her kids this afternoon and we'll go into town for the Christmas Carols in St. Nicholas Church. I was told it's not really a religious happening, just a get together with people singing and reading stories, so I am looking forward to that.

Tonight we'll meet some friends for dinner in the Radisson Hotel (one of the few places that's open on Christmas Eve) and tomorrow it will be just Stephan and I (and the 3 Ps of course - Pepper, Paul and Pirate) having a nice Christmas lunch. Saturday will most likely be spent in front of the TV eating leftovers (and watching ER - what else!).

Next week then we'll finally go to Duesseldorf, although it's only for 3 days, far too short to do all the things we would like to do and see all the people we'd like to meet. I hope that in spring/summer next year we'll be able to spend a few more days in Germany, there are so many of you I would like to spend some time with and haven't seen in ages.

The end of one year and beginning of the next is always a special and bit sentimental time for me (and for most I guess), time to conclude and to plan ahead, to reminisce about the past 12 months and kind of rate the past year.

Well, 2009 will not go down as the happiest year for me. Losing my Mum has been - and still is - hard. But my nature is to stay positive and I am very grateful for that! So 2010, here I come, and whatever you have in store for me, I'll make the best of it and I believe you will be a good year!

But hey, let's not forget that there are a few days left in 2009, and I wish everyone a very happy Christmas time! Enjoy the celebration of light in this dark time of year, because that's what it's all about - bringing some light and joy into our lives and simply having a good time!

Laziness and bingeing again!

Sorry for not writing anything in such a long time, my only excuse is my laziness. I haven't touched my laptop at home in the last 2 weeks and only switched it on today because I need to get rid of my 2 spare Placebo tickets for next Tuesday - again. There was some mix up when I booked the tickets back in May, my first booking didn't go through so I tried it again and somehow I must have ordered 4 tickets instead of just the 2 I need. I only realized my mistake when I received the second pair and so I tried to sell them on the internet (for face value, not to make any money, I really hate people doing this!). I got a few replies from people who were interested and had arranged with one girl to meet her on Tuesday but she texted me yesterday saying she cannot make it. I am quite sure I will find someone who wants them, there were a good few people looking for tickets and it's only a small venue (the Olympia Theatre in Dublin) and they are standing tickets which I think are a lot easier to sell than seated ones. So I won't worry and wait for someone to send me a message, hopefully someone who is a real fan and desperate for tickets- there's nothing better than making someone happy!

The week before last was complete routine, for me that means (apart from work, which of course is routine) going to my Hot Yoga class on Monday, housework on Tuesday, horse riding on Wednesday, Yoga on Thursday and being lazy at the weekend. On Sunday we met some friends for a pre-Christmas lunch and it was a lovely afternoon. We had lunch (and several bottles of Prosecco and wine) in the House Hotel and went to the Townhouse Bar afterwards for a few more drinks. Needless to say that I wasn't in best form on Monday, but because it was a lunch we weren't back home (and in bed) too late and it could have been worse.

Unfortunately there was no Yoga or horse riding for me last week as I had a sore back. When I woke up last Sunday it suddenly hit me and I had trouble with it all week, but it's finally a lot better today and I hope that I can go to my Yoga classes again next week.

It's the last week before Christmas and I am not in any Christmas mood at all! It is very different from year to year, last December I couldn't wait to put up the Christmas decoration and write cards, this year I have done nothing so far. As we are staying at home in Galway for Christmas I really should do something, but I am not in the mood. And I can tell now that I won't write any Christmas cards at all this year, I don't like doing these things half-heartedly or out of a sense of duty, so anyone who was expecting a card - you might get one next year!

Even my all time favourite Christmas song doesn't appeal to me at the moment. There is a rule that we don't listen to it before 1st December and usually we cannot wait for the day, but so far we only had it on once. BTW, the song is "Fairytale Of New York" by the Pogues, a wonderful /sad story about a couple of Irish immigrants in New York, and it has been my favourite song of the season long before I moved to Ireland (and had ever heard of Galway, which is mentioned in the song, "the boys of the NYPD choire were singing Galway Bay").

My reading binge has stopped as sudden as it had started (which is typical for me, I have these reading binges a few times a year and then don't read much for a while) and has been replaced by a dvd-watching-binge - something that I am on quite often. I made an advent calendar for Stephan again this year (I guess you all know what that is? A little present for each of the 24 days leading to Christmas) and I bought him the complete series or ER (Emergency Room) to put into it. That's 15 seasons, 9999 minutes altogether, and of course that was a bit selfish as I love ER too! So since last weekend we watch hardly anything else and have so far finished the first disk (out of 4) of season 2. My guess is we'll still be watching it next March and afterwards will have no problems qualifying as ER nurses!

So that's it for today my Sweeties, I'll write again before Christmas to let you know all about our plans for the festive days and beyond, which includes the New Year's Resolutions I mentioned in an earlier post.

Ho ho ho from Galway and could someone maybe send some snow, that might help getting into the right mood!?