February Resolutions

I'm so glad that January is over and done with, and that February is firmly underway. Earlier mornings, walking to and from work in daylight, and excellent plans with family and friends. Resolutions for this month are mostly around enjoying myself and feeling good. I love Edinburgh but like most folk who live somewhere "exciting", I'm guilty of going to the same places all the time. Instead of going to old favourites - be it a cafe, museum or bookshop - I want to explore more. The same goes for packed lunches. I'm stingy, in that I won't pay £3.50 for a crap supermarket sandwich, but I do have a tendency to pull a box of soup and a breadroll out of the freezer at the last minute. Healthy but dull. If I make an effort to eat more interesting food and enjoy it, I feel good for the rest of the day (and I'm considerably less likely to snack on biscuits). Similarly - if I set aside a little bit of time each evening to do a quick whizz round with the Hoover or wipe down the bathroom, I'll have more time to enjoy the weekend and be less resentful of Sunday evenings spent cleaning instead of watching trashy films. The jewellery one? Not remotely related to my having had an uncharacteristic moment of overexcitement in the 70% off section on pay day. Not at all.

January Resolutions

I've been pondering New Year's Resolutions for a couple of days. Thing is - I sort of started what I'd been planning on using as mine back in September when I began my 52 books challenge. And seeing as I don't smoke, am not a big drinker, eat fairly healthily and am quite thrifty (ok, stingy - I am from Yorkshire after all...) I struggled. 

I then thought about doing a word for the year. They are the new thing in resolutions, partly (if we're all honest) because they're more about positive intentions than beating yourself up for failings. No one is going to mock you if you've not "develop"-ed by the second week in February. They will if you've resolved to quit smoking, only to be caught nipping outside "to keep someone company" after a glass or three of wine.

But - I couldn't think of a word either. What I really want to do is get into little positive habits. The things that I think "oh, I really enjoyed doing that". Or "oh, that's made a surprising difference to my health/work/house". They tend to be the things you never do because there's *so many* of them and it gets overwhelming. Or because you don't write them down and then promptly forget. 

So, I have decided that I'm going to start writing these things down. Four new resolutions a month - the idea being that if you do something frequently, it becomes automatic. A positive habit.

January: