It’s not Spring, it’s Winter – Why ‘New Years Resolutions’ are doomed

Happy New Year 2013 Everyone!

It’s January and the crazy dieting and resolution thing is going on everywhere.  I don’t want to be the voice of doom, but your New Years Resolutions are pretty much doomed …. ooh that should be said with an echo doooooomed, doomed!

A few of you lucky people will have hit upon exactly the right goal and objective for you, and you’ll do great (just focus on being one of the few if you have a resolution you want to keep!).  But the rest of you will undoubtedly fail.

This is because it’s WINTER.  Not SPRING.  We are essentially evolved, but we evolved so quickly there is still a lot of our animal nature in us.  So the cycles of nature do affect us.  It’s not just because the shops change the colour of their clothes in spring and summer that makes us suddenly pop on the cheerful shades; it’s because it’s a different time of year.  Every year I decide to save money and just keep wearing cheerful summer stuff with vests/tights, but I still end up in the dark colours within a month because it feels ‘wrong’ somehow.

So when it comes to what to be doing right now, it’s a time for cosying up with the family, sorting out the big box/folder of photos and hibernating under blankets with cups of hot chocolate.

This is the time for wondering about who you are and who you would love to be.  It’s for ruminating with a glass of wine or cup of tea and philosophical chats.

The earth is doing the same thing; resting up, preparing for the busy period of spring/summer/autumn.

Last year I talked about thinking about your Life Priorities instead of making goals or resolutions, and that’s what I’d really recommend you do.  Take your time, this isn’t a rush, it’s about getting to know you after all the changes of last year or maybe even the bigger changes of becoming a Mum.

Think about what you would like to create/change in your life for you health, friendships, family, relationships, work, finances, creativity/hobbies or what you’d love to learn?

That’s what I’ve been doing over the past couple of months.  I’ve been going through all my cupboards thinking ‘is this stuff really me?’.

I found 5 boxes of stuff in the loft some of which I felt a big greeting from my heart.  So the crockery from my mum is now in the kitchen, some stuff has gone to charity and a bit has gone back up.

To make space for the crockery I’ve been through all the cupboards in the kitchen; did we really need all those water bottles?  (If you fancy a declutter check out my top tips here, and post about decluttering play rooms here).

I’ve really missed having cats over the past few years, and luckily for me a trip to a crazy friend of mine with a camel sanctuary in the October half term convinced hubby of the same.

So last week we also became the owner of 2 gorgeous 17 week old Norwegian Forest Kittens.  Suddenly, the house feels a lot more ‘right’ to me and surprisingly the dog is really chuffed about his new mates.

Obviously, I will have to tackle my nutrition and exercise because of my recent diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.  But even that has aspects of ‘who I decide to be’, rather than a New Years Resolution.

I’m also reading lots recently.  I pretty much winged it with Curly Headed Boy, being able to rely on a Mums natural intuition.  But this 7yo malarkey is a lot more tricky.  So I’ve reading a pile of books to try and give me some hints; I’m going to review them here just incase any of them are useful to you too.

So good luck to you guys to have started New Years Resolutions.  But if you fail, then don’t panic.  Just sit down and think about your life and come back to the resolutions in a couple of months time.

Oh and by the way, just incase you didn’t know it already; DIETS ARE CRAP FOR YOU!