New Year Aspirations

After the almost inevitable over-indulgence of Christmas Day and Boxing Day, people up and down the country will wake up this morning with varying degrees of hangover, but determined nonetheless to Make A Change, Turn their Life Around.  For most people this will involve a Resolution - to give up smoking, eat less fat, go to the gym more.  The telly will be full of ads offering you the chance to do all these things - for a price, of course.  There's a whole industry dedicated to helping you part with your money, all for the chance of a "new you" - a dream that we know won't last and won't by itself make you happier.

Millions of people will be signing up for a resolution that will end in disappointment and self-recrimination a few weeks later, when the dark days of January lead them to smoke just one more cigarette, eat a comforting hot pudding rather than a yoghurt, or give in to the desire to stay in bed on a frosty morning rather than get up and head for a run or a swim.  The additional pressure of enshrining these in a resolution seems to just create a breeding ground for disillusionment and guilt.  At least, that's what the papers and pop-psychologists tell us.

So this year, we're saying a resounding NO to New Year Resolutions, and saying a big YES for New Year Aspirations.  Things we want to do, that we can strive for at any point across 2011, but not take a guilt trip over!  Sounds good to me.

From a transition point of view, 2010 was the year we put a lot of effort (and investment!) into saving energy in the home - insulating the loft, improving the efficiency of our hot water and heating systems.  We also made some progress on the travel front, taking the car and ferry for our holiday rather than flying.

Thinking ahead to 2011, I want to explore local food a bit more, building on some of the experiences I've blogged about over the last twelve months.  I especially want to try out the Dozen bakery Jane wrote about in our food week earlier in the year.  That sounds like fun - no guilt or disillusionment involved in top-quality local croissants!  I also want to get involved in a possible new community project near my home - the Wensum View Community Garden.  Maybe find out a bit more about community beekeeping.

And hopefully, these, and a few more I'm starting to think about as I look forward to the new year, will provide me with lots of fertile ground for future blog-posts.  Because whatever else I do in 2011, I'm looking forward to working with the other TN bloggers on taking this blog from strength to strength.

This week, in the run up to the New Year, the TN blog community will be sharing some of their thoughts on the year ahead and their aspirations for 2011.  I hope you enjoy it, and do let us know what you're looking forward to and some of your own New Year Aspirations.  We'd love to hear from you!

Picture from www.earthzine.org