2015: The year I resolve to stop making New Year’s resolutions

The first week of 2015 is already gone, and with it any chance that I will make a New Year’s resolution this year. Like most mothers, I don’t really get a kick out of failure and to me, there can be few surer routes to misery than drawing up a neat list of lofty goals, still giddy on stolen selection boxes and sparkling wine.

 

With shovelfuls of mince pies and Roses under my belt, it’s tempting to tell the world that I’m going to lose a stone by mid-term, give up bread forever, and run 10k every morning – but this year I have made up my mind to give up giving up and just get on with the things I want to do at a time of my choosing.

 

For a start, it’s January. Let me repeat that for emphasis: it is January.

 

There can be no worse time for starting any sort of health or discipline kick than at the start of the year, when, if we had any sense, we would be cosily curled up in hibernation, sleeping off all those calories we feel guilty about and emerging skinny and rested in time for the gentler days of spring.

 

Hibernation not being an option, let’s be reasonable and at least be kind to ourselves. Take a brisk walk in the fresh air, by all means, but don’t feel obliged to rise before dawn for an hour of pounding the icy pavements. And, as the long days between Christmas shopping and the January pay cheque stretch before me, I’m not spending my last remaining Euros on goji berries and organic celery.

 

Of course, setting yourself realistic, attainable goals creates a wonderful model for your children to follow, but the opposite is also the case. Beating yourself up because you didn’t keep to a diet of polystyrene – sorry, rice cakes – or you still hate spin class is not a good example to set your kids. So make 2015 the year you give up giving up. It’s one New Year’s resolution I’ll take pride in keeping. 

 

Aoife O'Carroll is a separated mum living in Co Kerry with her two boys aged 17 and 14, and a girl aged 10.