It’s the New Year and by now we have seen a whole host of ‘New Year, New Me’ statuses and articles littering our social media or papers. Resolutions are expected to be made and with these resolutions comes a lot of pressure. Pressure we put on ourselves to change.

We are only a couple of weeks into the new year and if you haven’t already begun that new diet or haven’t been out pounding the pavements each day then we feel like we have got our 2018 off on the wrong foot. That it is already a failure.

A New Year brings with it a fresh start, a new wave of optimism, a new host of dreams and endless possibilities, but it can also bring a lot of anxiety. Anxieties about what we think we are expected to be doing this early stage in the year and the changes we should have already made.

Of course we want to plan and use the year ahead to be our best selves, but it doesn’t have to start on January 2nd. There is a full year ahead to make improvements, develop new habits or quit old ones.

I, myself, have some goals for this year, notice how I haven’t said resolutions, because lets face it, resolutions are made to be broken, goals are made to be met.
Have I started my steps towards achieving these goals, some yes, most no.

One of my goals is a typical one. To shift the Christmas tyre and get back to feeling fit and strong. I was beginning to become really hard on myself and cause myself some unnecessary anxiety, because five days into 2018 I was still munching on a Terry’s Chocolate orange and had yet to join the gym.

But so what! I’ll start when I start and I want to stick to it. Forcing ourselves to take on these ‘resolutions’ as soon as the clock strikes midnight on December 31st is not the way forward.

Quick fixes are also not the way forward. You will see a host of fad diets and juice cleanses claiming to get you to drop five stone in two weeks. Please stay away from these, for one, who wants to drink their food for two weeks straight, I know I would be an absolute unbearable demon to be around, and two it isnt a sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off.

Now Im no dietician or personal trainer, but I have shed over two stone and managed to keep it off (well some has returned over the festive period). I find the best way forward is good healthy food and exercise, simple right?

It is great that we all want to improve ourselves, but lets not crucify ourselves if we haven’t started to make those improvements just yet or if we have little slip ups. It’s only January, there are eleven other months in the year to tackle the ‘New You’.

Let’s call it the Improved You, because there is nothing wrong with who we are now, however a little upgrade now and then tends to keep everything running that bit smoother.