Happy new year! Some resolutions for 2012

Happy new year everyone! How was your festive period? Mine was filled with roast dinners, smoked salmon, cheese boards, prosecco, mulled cider, country walks, cosy pubs, friends, family and lots of celebrating.

So now it’s all over, and everyone’s finally recovered from New Year’s Eve excesses (I admit, it did take me a few days), it seems everyone in blogland is listing their resolutions for 2012.

Now, I used to be really anti new year resolutions – probably because I never managed to keep them, so just gave up making them. I also don’t like all the resolution-related magazine headlines telling you you’re a MASSIVE FATTY and need to ‘Lose those extra xmas pounds!’ or ‘Tone up that belly!’ By all means be healthier and fitter, but don’t let it turn into a massive exercise in self-loathing.

But this year I’m actually going to give it a go. I’m going to see the new year as an opportunity to kick into place some changes that I wanted to make in my life anyway. So, ladies and gentlemen, my aim for 2012 is (drum roll please)…

To nurture my creativity and expand my intake of culture

Ok, I know that sounds kind of general, not very specific and possibly a bit wanky. But to help me along my way I’ve broken it down into several easier, more bite-sized tasks, which should all help me achieve the overall goal.

• Read more. Starting with reading a book on the train, rather than dossing around on Twitter on my phone.
• Improve my photography skills. The boyfriend’s shiny new DSLR should hopefully help with this.
• Start doing more creative writing. Join a creative writing group, and perhaps even organise that spoken word night that I’ve been thinking about starting for ages.
• Soak up one piece of culture a week, whether it’s a theatre visit, a trip to a gallery, a spoken word night or simply ordering an arty film to watch on LoveFilm.
• Improve my dressmaking skills – it would be great to be able to make my fantasy 1950′s fitted-waist-puffy-out-skirt dress by Christmas.
• Watch less TV. Hopefully once this one is cracked, all of the above should become just that little bit easier.

It sounds like a lot, but when you consider I’ve got an entire year to fit all this into, rather than trying to cram it all into January, it seems a little more achievable, don’t you think? What are your new year resolutions?

‘Do what you love’ poster by Andy J Miller, part of the Advice To Sink In Slowly project

How I tried – and failed – to become a morning person

I have always struggled with not being a ‘morning person’. I am addicted to the snooze button, only ever able to drag myself out of bed until roughly ten minutes before I leave the house. I’ve come up with all manner of time-saving activities, from doing my make up the train to eating breakfast at my desk, that will grant me a few extra minutes in bed.

But my love affair with lie-ins always leaves me feeling hugely guilty. In my imagination, the ‘morning person’ exists as the epitome of everything I should aspire to be. I imagine she has glossy hair, a spotless flat, a collection of herbal teas, a regular gym habit and fabulous baking skills. She’s kind of like Nigella, turned up to 11.

I can’t help wondering how much more productive I would be, how much healthier, how much of an all round better person if only I could rise at the crack of dawn, consume a breakfast of poached eggs and spinach, fit in a gym session and an extra hour of work before my colleagues roll into the office. But no. I can only ever muster a tap on the snooze option.

My boyfriend, however, doesn’t ever think twice about lounging in bed for as long as possible. Comatose he will lie, snuggled under the duvet, rising many hours later with nothing to say other than: ‘That was lovely!’ So when I tell him my plans to transform my life with daybreak alarms, he’s not amused.

‘So, you’re going to wake us both up at stupid o’clock with your alarm, and then do what exactly?” he asks, bemused.

‘Oh, loads of stuff!’ I say, breezily. ‘Fit in more work. Go to the gym more, get really healthy, maybe even do some cleaning. I’ll be like a different person!’

‘Hmmmm,’ was his only answer.

So off my alarm goes earlier than usual one frosty Autumn morning. I glare at it, angry that it’s forcing me out of my lovely soft bed. It’s bloody freezing in the flat, so I slip on my massive dressing gown and start to ponder what to do with my extra hour-and-a-half.

I figure the best way to spend an early morning is cooking a nice breakfast. So I make a big bowl of porridge, and eat it whilst thinking how I could’ve just bought some from the office canteen and had it at my desk.

Then I do my make-up, which I usually do on the train. I pray there’s something really interesting in the Metro this morning, otherwise I’m going to be massively bored on my commute.

I manage to catch the train half an hour earlier than usual, and seem to spend the extra time faffing around with my emails before the rest of the office wanders in. The rest of the day meanders on as normal, accept for one unexpected event. I hit a massive wall at 4.30pm.

Normally I saunter through the afternoon with perfectly reasonable energy levels, never having to reach for the caffeine. But today I’m yawning all over the place, struggling to keep my eyes open as the pixels on my computer screen start blurring.

I slump back home and swiftly pull on my PJ’s before collapsing, motionless, on the sofa. So, my first day of being a morning person, and my hair is not any shinier, my workload not any lighter, and my body definitely not glowing with health and radiance.

Maybe, it seems, being a morning person is one of those things you think will transform you – like expensive clothes or a better job. But it doesn’t. You’re still  just you, but with an earlier alarm and a tendency to start feeling sleepy at 4.30pm.