Happy New Year

As much as I love Christmas I also find it a bit of an emotional roller-coaster.  The excitement that rises with each gift wrapped, meal planned and invitation accepted is balanced equally and ominously by the worry that families will fall-out, cash will run-out and my brain will bow-out , overloaded by the pressure that inevitably builds up after a year hard at it! Thankfully, this year was more peace-on-earth than pieces on the floor. So far, so good!

And so it is with that sentiment that I pick up my virtual pen for another year of blogging.

During the final days of 2009 I plucked a few random minutes out of the heady air that was a family-at-home-Christmas to make some plans for 2010. I am as big a fan of making plans as I am at rebelling and breaking them so, with that in mind I decided to craft this years resolutions in such a way as to allow myself some artistic license. Why am I telling you dear readers? Well, I would like to invite you along……..

Resolutions (or rather, idea’s that may just amount to something).

1) Be right here.

Does that sound stupid?  I guess it may do but what I mean is this,  I, like many other busy people am usually so wrapped up in future plans, arrangements, deadlines and forward-looking notions while at the same time analysing past failures that I forget to “be”. I have decided that I will BE in 2010.  How I do this will change daily I expect – I’ll keep you posted!

2) Know and say NO.

This two-for-one double-whammy may give me some issues. I, like many of you struggle with the word “NO”. Being more of a philosopher than a psychologist I think that this is because I don’t yet “KNOW”  what I want, therefore I use my ‘not saying no’ as a means of keeping the door open, just in case.  So, it’s not that I want to batten down the hatches this year and shut people out but I do think that 2010 could be the year in which I master the art of “Know” and “no”.   Any tips on just how to do this would be lovingly received!

3) Smile and Breathe.

The one thing that I love about Christmas more than anything else is the way that it makes you think of others more than usual. I mean, that is the whole point of the season – giving and sharing.  I have not had any real ‘lightning bolt” moments or ‘revalations’ this holidays but I have been touched by a series of small events that have made me once again realize that my problems are mostly ‘man-made’ and fairly trivial compared to many.  I have also realized that putting a few deep breaths and a smile in the gap between something TRAGIC happening and me running out to find an audience will make the world that my family and friends inhabit a better place.

4) Organise my writing into a book.

This is the one that I am most excited  / full of trepidation about.  I have been toying around with the idea for a while now and have decided that this is just what I need to do in order to inject a little discipline into my writing. I am planning to use some of the material from here along with other bits of research / interviews and recipes that I collect and develop over the year.  Again, I would love your feedback on this and will share with you my progress (while keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t have to use my hard-fought funds to self-publish).

So, wearing my heart on my sleeve and my dreams on this (virtual) paper I take a deep breath, thank my lucky stars that I am here and welcome in 2010 with you, my blogging buddies!

Enjoying a huggle with my kids

Have a Happy and Beautiful New Year.

Amanda