the word

The difference a day makes (or not)!

New Years Resolutions, how long can we really expect to keep them?

A few weeks, perhaps at a stretch a month for the more disciplined amongst us. Every year I go through the rigmarole of deciding on a resolution, not in a half hearted manner but with full blown thought and enthusiasm. I don’t clutch to the usual single minded ‘lose weight’ or ‘get a pay rise’ type, instead I carefully choose a resolution that ties in nicely with all aspects of my life. I like to be able to associate the one resolution to various factors of my life; it must be applicable to me as an entity for everything i do. I also like to keep it simple. That’s the idea, good in theory anyway.

As an example, last year I went for two words that I could apply to everything ‘No Waste’. By this I meant: no wasting time, money, food, days off, electricity, water and life in general. See you can apply it to pretty much anything. You can see my trouble here, it’s extremely practical and going to be hard to top this year. Did it work though? Well sometimes yes and other times no. Most importantly I did make changes and it impacted on my life in 2009 in a positive way for the most part anyway. Unfortunately, throughout last year ‘No waste’ didn’t extend to social outings, in fact by far the opposite occurred!

I was pretty happy in 2009 to plod along not wasting ANYTHING, until I go out and get wasted. Yes it is very ladette I know, but I love it, it is fun and an area I excel in. It is at this point that everything ‘No waste’ stands for goes right out of the window. I waste money on drinks that are ludicrously expensive, I waste money on black cabs, I waste great banter on dullards I talk to, waste waste waste! In fairness I sometimes redeem my drunken self by at least not wasting the opportunity to do the caterpillar across the floor. While we are on the subject, it seems that in the 4 years I have lived in London I have worked out I am allergic to the last tube home. This is a regular dilemma I face at midnight when I go out. I always have full intention of getting the last tube every single time I go out, I swear blind I will, I even reassure myself how I need an early night, how I have things to do tomorrow, how I expect to make my 10am spin class. Even so every single time I go out for drinks, it goes frightfully wrong, so wrong. I don’t intend this, it just always turns out that way.

So I have decided that in order to top last year’s resolution and to have it infiltrate my lifestyle in a positive way I need to come up with one single solitary word. Something I can use almost as a mantra, which I can say to myself again and again in situations that require it. I have toyed with ‘new’ ‘now’ and ‘quality’ so far. ‘New’ because it is a new decade and it would be a reminder to always try and do new things, experiences, try new drinks (before the last tube that is), ways of exercising, new music, new work, watching new programmes, talking to new people…you get the picture. The thinking behind ‘Now’ is because I put loads of things on the back burner, usually dull stuff though, chores, anything involving the post office or admin, general bill paying and I always put off talking to people in call centres. If the programme ‘Room 101’ still existed, Call Centres would go in there with Mosquitoes and Caves, all dull, irritating and totally pointless. Trips to caves, I just really don’t get, what is that all about, a hole in the ground or in a rock, cockroaches and rats live there, no thanks. That goes for caving too, ridiculous activity. And Mosquitoes are the top of my most pointless creatures list. Anyway, I think if I do everything Now, my life will be organised, better and leave more time for me and life’s pleasures.

The last one, ‘Quality’ was kind of recommended to me by a friend who said that last year his resolution was ‘Whatever the situation, react with quality’, you have to admit that the sentiment is great, but it is quite definitive and a little too professional, it’s almost like a companies mission statement and therefore too formal for me. I am prone to a few faux pas when drunk, I am pretty sure that doing a headstand in a dress while out certainly doesn't qualify as ‘class’, but hey, we live and learn.

In essence, I have put much thought into this old tradition and have decided on a definitive word, this is ‘BETTER’. This year I will better everything and while I am at it I ‘better’ start getting the last tube home!