Resolve

The proper behaviour all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to.

P J O'Rourke

Drunk - but not that drunk. 1st January is a rubbish day for the new year to start. Everyone's tired and hungover and listless, and all one can do is slump on the sofa drinking milky coffee, eating toast and snoozing.

I am giving very careful consideration to my resolutions for this year - and indeed for this decade. I'm also reflecting on the year just gone, its downs and its ups.

I feel that things matter more than they did this time last month. In November I wouldn't have made any resolutions at all - didn't care enough, didn't have the confidence to believe I could achieve anything of note any more.

Now I feel this is a time of great potential - and I'm taking a deep breath and centring myself before diving in. I plan to start this January as an optimist, believing in myself and creating the possibility of a Happy New Year!