New year, new me? Uh right...except for the fact that it's flipping February. Yeah, sorry about that one. The vapid expression that most of us preach in the new year is pretty apt for me, this year. I can sense the eye rolls from behind the computer screens already, and for that I'm sorry. I'm also sorry to have to be one of "those" people this year, but you kind of have to accept things for what they are in life. It just so happens that this is one of them for me at the moment, because as I type away I am a completely different person than I was starting off the year, back in January 2015 and completely different compared to the one who started off this January. Well, physically anyway. I started off 2015 at 13 stone 10, nearly 14 stone, thanks to my ever spiralling thyroid condition. 2015 was the year that all of that change for me and the old, happier and healthier Kate come back.
January was a write off. Move on, start afresh and go with a new direction if you choose. You have the chance to rewrite your year already. Don't waste it. Come the end of the year no one remembers January anyway, or the wobble you may have had about the upcoming year. For me it was a typical start to the year, rifling through my inner thoughts and desires to see what I could elect as my new years resolutions. Making sure that this year they'd be worth having. A beneficial one, for oneself. It took me a couple of weeks, but I finally reached a decision. It was to be more positive. No long background stories attached, no ulterior motives. Just to be more positive in every situation possible I can. Fine, I might not have lost a substantial amount of weight recently, in fact I seem to have plateaued at about 11 stone (give or take a couple of pounds) for the last 6 months. But what I have done, what I have achieved, is to keep nearly 3 stone off. And there's no taking that away from me. People echo it regularly to me, but it actually takes something to take it in and to start letting people's praises/advice resonate with your outlook on things. I still eat healthily these days in comparison to my university/relationship/pre-condition days but I don't stop myself having a treat. I don't ever deny myself something if I want it. Whichever way you look at it, I went on a big personal journey throughout 2015 to find myself again amongst all the appointments, prescriptions, gruelling gym sessions and copious amounts of avocados.
There are so many reason's why February is the month for positivity and not January. January tends to be negative what with the onset of Christmas blues, weather turning worse than the months leading up to Christmas, and as always the no excitement of snow. I mean come on, we wouldn't mind putting up with all this dreary weather if something good came off it - like a two-day-long snow day right? If you haven't had the start to 2016 that you would of hoped for, adopt the Chinese tradition of their New Year. This year, Monday 8 February marked the start of the Chinese lunar new year. Even though you're not from a Chinese heritage who's to stop you using it as an excuse to turn a corner in your life and make things more positive from now on.
Two days later was Ash Wednesday, marking the start of lent. You don't have to be religious to use these forty days leading up to Easter. You can choose to use this time to reinvent yourself a little. Give up a naughty vice, one that's not beneficial to your life and makes it more positive on a daily basis by not having it. You don't even have to give up that vice of yours for the full forty days, if you're reading this a week on from now, nothings wrong with giving up something for 30 days or 25 days. That's still an accomplishment. A personal achievement of yours, own it!
Valentine's Day is in a couple of days. Another perfect excuse to give yourself that good, well needed kick up the backside. If you haven't got anyone of the opposite, or same sex, that's particularly special to you, use this time to do something nice for yourself. Look after number one! Pamper yourself. Treat yourself. Whatever the heck you fancy, as long as it makes you happy. Happiness does equal positivity. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be anything if you don't want it to be, but it's also what you make it. So if you feel it's a day based on commercial gain, don't succumb to that, wait a little for prices to go back down and then treat yourself to yourself to some flowers or that new blender you needed but shouldn't really buy. Indulge yourself a little.
'Change your thoughts and change your world' - Norman Vincent Peale
Please note: I'm so sorry I had a technical glitch delaying the posting of this blog substantially.
Please note: I'm so sorry I had a technical glitch delaying the posting of this blog substantially.
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