Enjoy summer (and beer)
Originally uploaded by Sator Arepo

res - o - lu - tion ; A formal expression of opinion or intention made ... A course of action determined or decided on.

As the year draws to a close, minds around the world are a flutter with thoughts of the year that has been and the one that is to come. We mercilessly analyse the year past and create a set of rules by which to create improvements in our life come the new year. Physical goals, geographically wanderlusting, emotional commitments. We call them resolutions.

A resolution is a course of action that has been determined; firmly decided upon, and so come years end, if the collective courses of action that we have chosen to create the previous new year have been broken, we feel let down. We feel we have not fulfilled our promises to ourselves. So are our supposed resolutions just another way that we set ourselves up for inevitable failure, year after year? Is achieving our resolutions a case of redetermining what is a viable and achievable set of goals, or do we scrap the resolutions altogether and simply commit to becoming to the best version of ourselves?

Some of the most popular resolutions that are made pertain to body image and money. Fame is also becoming an increasingly lusted after resolution. As women we need to think a little deeper in 2009. Being size 8 won't fix your life. Having more money than you know what to do with might go a way towards making improvements, but it won't comfort you - money can't buy love. And fame, in a year that has seen the media hound celebrities to breaking point (see: Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Kerry Katona), is the spotlight really where we want to be in order to achieve optimal contentedness in our lives?

Perhaps instead try aiming for health, security and success. These areas encompass much more and while you may never be a size 8, you could discover your perfect weight FOR YOU and maintain those curves. You may not be a millionaire, but you can put away a few quid each week and build up an emergency/security fund. You may not become an internationally known celebrity, but you could become greater recognised within the field that you specialise. Concentrate on creating goals that will work for you and that will achieve what should be the only REAL resolution you need in 2009 and going forward....

I will be the best I can be.

Scribble it across the front page of your 2009 moleskine and every time you open your notebook for the next year it will be a timely reminder for you to make 2009 your best year yet.

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