Time For A Change

There can be no doubt that I am delighted to put 2022 behind me. With one thing and another, it’s been a fairly dismal time for most people, I think: the months lurching between the various medical, financial and environmental crises, not to mention the ongoing farce of governmental incompetence and corruption. It has all been really rather … wearing.

As someone who has only ever made one New Year’s Resolution (to never again listen to The Archers; nearly a decade now and never a backward glance), I’m not usually much of one for them. However, this year I am going to attempt to make some small adjustments that I hope will become habits, that might in turn become positive changes. The first is stretching every day. I know, dull, isn’t it, but I am finding that if I don’t I am in danger of seizing up.

The second is also on the ‘self-care’ routine, which seems to be all the rage at the moment, and that’s to keep a well-being diary. WHAT A BELLEND, I hear you cry, quite rightly. Yet I’ve found my stress levels escalating beyond what is an appropriate reaction to a situation or problem, so I’ve decided to address what is at the root of it. In part, this resolution was inspired by the Ben Stokes documentary, Phoenix From The Ashes, and (while I in no way compare myself to Stokes) I could see a lot of the responses he had to situations involved the same things, such as catastrophising and overwhelming anxiety. Even the decision to start (and starting) the diary are already helping. Three things a day and how they make me feel or react. It’s interesting already and I think it will be very useful.

The third - and possibly most daunting (for me) - is to resurrect my old website, which died a gory wordpress death before Covid and fell to the bottom of a long To Do List. It will include the Georgian London blog and all the usual guff, plus updates on work in progress. I’m sure it will all go swimmingly.

That only leaves me to say that I wish you all a marvellous 2023. May the dire omens be nothing more than shadows to be dispelled as the days lengthen and we all get our strides back. Meanwhile, we should all channel a little Whitney Houston.