…It is a time of new beginnings, fresh ideas, making time for things that are important and worthwhile, detox and cleanliness… We can forget the stupid and idiotic acts we participated in during the festive (drunken) Christmas season, and say to ourselves… ‘Hey, that was last year…it’s in the past, I’m gonna forget it and move on!’
We used to mark the New Year with a tradition called ‘first footing’ (it was meant to bring good luck). People waited behind their door for a dark haired person, who would be the first to enter the house that year, bringing a piece of coal (for warmth), bread (to signify there would always be enough food to eat), some money (for financial prosperity) and some greenery (for long life). The visitor would take some dust or ashes out of the house, denoting the departure of the old year.
In this day and age we make our own luck. (I know that if someone brought me a lump of coal on the 1st of Jan whilst I’m nursing a hangover in my pajamas- I’d tell them where to go!) Many of us take stock of our lives and reflect on the year gone by, making New Year’s resolutions. Yes, we usually (or in my case always) break them by January the 2nd, but still each year we try again, most of the time making the same ones.
This is always going to be the case, unless you make resolutions like, gain weight, spend loads of money (stick it on a third credit card), take up a bad habit (smoking perhaps?!), don’t pay your mobile bill till you get cut off, and walk less (even driving to the postbox, located at the end of your street).
So why is this? If our boss randomly told us in March to survive on 900 calories a day, never utter a swearword and only drink alcohol on our birthday, we would immediately be in the queue for our p45. We wouldn’t accept such ridiculous targets from someone else, so why do we put such pressure on ourselves, setting impossible targets? ‘Because it’s tradition!!!’ I hear you shouting at the screen! Okay, okay… so lets find a happy medium between starting anew and being realistic, because lets face it, New Year is a fabulous time, and setting goals is a great way to boost confidence and make life more meaningful, and as you know- getting you to feel good about yourselves is our main priority here at 100% People!
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