2023 is upon us, and truthfully I’m not ready. There is so much unfinished business from 2022 to complete that I just can’t get my head round to moving into a new way of thinking.

I stopped setting goals around new years, a few years ago. It’s a highly stressful time, what with the festive season activities and the general exhaustion from a year of work. It just didn’t make sense to me anymore to set the tone for the year in the midst of all the upheaval. I am still contemplating, sifting and sorting and trying on everything for size. Eventually I’ll settle in some key goals.

There is an underlying pressure to have goals set and start on some new way of being at the beginning of the year. My main goal last year was to not diet, which I followed. I gained weight significantly and while the thought of losing that weight scares the living daylights out of me, I know I made the right decision for my long term health. I am still researching and trying to find a truly healthy approach to this conundrum and whilst there is so much information out there, I am yet to find a sustainable process to follow.

I’ve been sleeping so much, planning very little and doing next to nothing and I have come to realise just how E X H A U S T E D, I am. If I could afford it, I would check myself into a hotel and sleep for another week.

I think there was a pressure to do so much in 2022, that I barely came out for air. The unspoken need to make up for two years of restrictions meant I was saying yes, without really checking in. Despite all the attention to mental health and well-being, the reality is that we haven’t fully caught up with the idea. There is still a great desire to do as much as possible in the time one has, because one thing the pandemic taught us was, time is not guaranteed.

So, I am in a new year, not feeling particularly renewed or refreshed, despite a week and a half’s break. I’m picking up where I left off, with half the desire I had in 2022 because the time away has reminded me of what really matters, and it isn’t any of this stuff!

But , we are in a recession! So here I am at 3 in the morning, struggling to sleep and writing instead, with my first day back in the office hours away!