New beginnings, a fresh start, a new you.

Welcome to the year twenty fifteen.

Ok, I know we are now almost two weeks in, but as those heads are feeling less fuzzy, waistlines are rolling down over jeans and the daily grind has finally be set back in motion, it is the right time to look to the future and determine what this year will bring.

It is always assumed that with the strike of that midnight clock, the slate is wiped clean and life can start again. The gym turns into a jungle, full of oversized orang-utans desperately trying to get rid of that turkey bulge, the shelves at the supermarket become bare, with all temptation being taken away, and Facebook’s newsfeed becomes inundated with statuses expressing that negativity of any kind will be wiped from the surface of the earth through means of finding oneself. All in all, the New Year brings with it a chance for each and every one of us to try, once again, to be the best possible version of ourselves.

Jumping on the bandwagon, I too, have taken it upon myself to compile my own list of resolutions. Of course, there are the obligatory fitness and food related items, which will include meat-free Monday, wheat-free Wednesday and fish Friday, not forgetting the looming Paris marathon in April that is rapidly approaching. Along with becoming a health fiend I will be looking to broaden my horizons and attempting to learn a new recipe a week, a new skill each month and visit three new places, all in a year. I am hoping that by venturing into the unknown I will fully encompass the idea of what a resolution should be.

As part of our fresh start, Mother and I decided to take it upon ourselves to sort through the ‘activity room’; a room in our house that is used as a dumping ground. There are piles of moth-eaten clothes, dishevelled books and bountiful amounts of every art supply going, piled to the ceiling in an un-orderly fashion. Along with all the junk were some hidden treasures, and among these possessions were some painful memories. As we were slowly working through the piles it became clear that there were items that had been placed in the room whilst I was in intensive care and forgotten about. Bits and pieces that had been sat there for over three years collecting dust.

As I resolve to better myself this year I have also come to the conclusion that in order to achieve my goals it is important to be kinder to myself. Sometimes it is easy to forget that it wasn’t that long ago I was fighting for my life.

So whilst I may not be where I had imagined I would be in twenty fifteen, perhaps it is about time that I gave myself a break, maybe this is the year that I will learn to be less hard on myself and discover the importance of celebrating each achievement, however great or small.

 My New Year resolutions for 2015