New Resolutions for a New Year.

I love the New Year. It's a time for fresh starts and new resolutions. Since turning 50 last March I have slowly begun to realise my own mortality. I don't want to sound morbid, but the chances are that I'm over half way in this life of mine. More than one friend of mine has faced serious illness this year and that has made me value my health and family more than ever. Age has never bothered me - it's just a number - but the number I now own doesn't seem to match with who I am... How odd to be a 50 year old! Inside I am far younger. Anyway ... this year I am making resolutions, but not resolutions which will deny myself things. This year I resolve to enjoy every moment of my life. I want to be positive and strong.

I have never been one to live in the past. Nostalgia is really not for me and this year more than ever I plan to live in the Now and yet look to the future. I plan on learning new things, new skills. I am continuing to walk when I can and my husband and I have set a day to swim although this is clashing with my ballet classes... aaagh!. Last year I started yoga and I love it. I plan to keep on practising and attending classes, getting better and more flexible. Part of yoga that I love is the relaxing, meditative aspect and I have been using this to help my sleep. I hope to start running again too. If I can regain my love of it I will be thrilled!

If I am looking after my body with exercise then I need to think about what I am putting into it in the way of food and drink too. I have only one body and so far I have been extremely fortunate to be fit and healthy, but, to be honest, I have been a bit of a pig recently! I love good food and wine and have rather over indulged in both over the last few months!! I am going to try to drink more water and less wine! I want to eat more healthily too... smaller portions, more fruit and veg, more fish, less red meat. I think the key is forward planning and I have been enjoying some delicious recipes recently - full of fresh ingredients, fresh herbs.

In April I am booked onto a Hypnotherapy course and I cannot wait for it to start. I love the thought of learning something new and, eventually perhaps, changing direction career wise. Taking on a year's course is a big challenge and the fact that this is more science based than my usual love - the Arts - is not a little frightening! It is, perhaps, the fear factor that excites me just as much as the thought of a new skill, new knowledge.

self portrait courtesy of christianhook.com

I also plan on visiting more exhibitions this year. Last year I went to a few, but this year I want to see more, in particular Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy and Christian Hook at Clarendon Fine Art. The older I get the more I realise how little I know!

I want to keep my mind open and push myself to make the most of every day. I am going to keep reading as much as possible and I plan on editing the book I wrote in November during NaNoWriMo. I feel like Ernie Wise talking about "The book what he wrote"!! I enjoyed the discipline of writing and, you never know, I might write something else... although I don't think JK Rowling or Stephen King have anything to fear!! Writing a novel in the month of NaNoWriMo certainly makes one appreciate the skill of real writers!!

I also want to cherish every moment I have with my family. As time goes on I am reminded every day just how lucky I am. My husband is my best friend, my rock and I love his company. I want to spend as much time together as we can. My boys are getting older and the time when they will leave home is drawing ever closer. I want to enjoy time with them too. I am determined to be more fun when we go skiing this year. When they ski over jumps I am going to follow them. Oh God! That really is scary!



So... those are my resolutions. I hope that I can look back in a year's time and see that I have lived a healthy, positive life, full of enthusiasm!! I will try not to be too annoying!!

Running, Swimming and Instagram ... !!!

Well hello everybody! It has been some time since my last post, but for those of you grieving my absence ... if any ... fear not. I have been out and about fulfilling my New Year's Resolutions and generally trying to make my life rather better.

I reached Christmas a blubbery version of my former self and decided that enough was enough. Since Christmas I have been running every other day, eating far less and I have really got into photography. Since I finished my Degree I have been in a kind of limbo, waiting for my next project and feeling a little bit without direction.

I have to tell you that I am loving my running. Don't get me wrong ... I have a very long way to go before I get back to full fitness, but I have seen a difference in my body and my fitness in the last month. I have gone from blubbering along, bursting out of my running trousers and having to stop to walk rather often ... to being able to run for much longer each time. And I feel comfortable. I went through a stage last year when I was very unhappy at work and I would get palpitations and I seriously worried that if I did much exercise I would keel over with a heart attack. Luckily this year is a whole new ball game and I am so happy with my job. All chest pains have gone and I feel great!!

So ... so far I have lost 6 pounds in the last month since Christmas and I aim to lose another 20 pounds. Its a big ask, but I hope that I can lead a healthy life from now on. I have been loving going out in the snow and following my nose. For the first time in about 5 years, since I ran the London Marathon, I am enjoying my runs rather than enduring them.

I have also discovered Instagram. My children are appalled, but I love it. For those of you who don't know, it is an app for your phone so you can take photos, edit them and share online. It is tickling my artistic bones at the moment and I am constantly taking photos. I love it!! You can see my photos if you look on my right hand tool bar and my user name, funnily enough, is @secrethousewife .

Instagram is a world of photos ... everything from really gorgeous shots to dreadful ones, but I love finding photographers from all over the world and seeing what they do each day. I follow people from all over the world - from the Klondike to the Lake District, from Italy to Australia ...

So that's what I'm up to ... running, swimming, eating healthily, photographing the world around me and I feel happy. I walked to work today through the snow and I can't wait to go running tomorrow, swimming on Wednesday. this new lifestyle might mean I don't blog quite as much, but I hope you will still come by and read when I do!!! Oh, and maybe you can join me with the photography? If you do then let me know you came from my blog ... xxx

Happy New Year 2012!!!

Happy New Year to everyone out there in Blogging Land!! I hope that you all have a great 2012 filled with health and happiness. None of us knows what the future will bring  - I just hope that most of it for the majority of us is happy.

Some of it, I suppose depends on our own view of life.I am pretty much a 'glass half full' kind of girl whereas I know quite a few people who are in the 'glass half empty' camp. When asked if I am ok I do tend to answer in the positive, unless things are reeeeeeally bad. The last thing anyone wants is some down in the mouth moaning minnie, sighing and groaning all over the place.

A good friend of mine never ceases to amaze me with their Eeyore style melancholy. Nothing ever goes well for them - life is always a trial. If I didn't love them so much for who they are in spite of this melancholy bent, I suspect I would have bruising from banging my head against their wall! I feel like grabbing them and saying "Come on!! Pull yourself together!! We only live once so enjoy life!!! Look for the beauty, look for the positive in all you have!!" But I think that if I did say that this person would probably head butt me ... No, not really, but I would be hurting them by drawing their attention to it ... so I don't.

There are other people I know whose lives are very difficult, both financially and emotionally, and yet they continue through their days with a smile on their face and a kind word for all those around them.They never paint their lives as difficult and I both admire their strength and enjoy their company.

So ... which of these will I be this year? Which will you be? I wonder what joys, what trials, what mysteries await us? All we can do is deal with each moment we live in the best way we can. No regrets, no opportunities missed, no words of love or encouragement left unsaid ...

Happy New Year!!