A different kind of New Year's resolution

Written by Jamie Davis
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 00:00

Culture - Global

So, Christmas and New Year 2008 are over. We’ve packed away the turkey basters, wrapping paper and unused Christmas cards from the biodegradable charity pack of 50. The Champagne flutes have gone back in to the display cabinet and the salvaged party poppers have been stored away with “The Essential New Year’s Eve Countdown” double CD ready for next year.

Now what? What do we do for the next 364 days? Repeat last year? Wait around for the day the Earth stands still? Make a difference? Make a change?

We shouldn’t need an excuse to start living our lives. Some people use cancer as an excuse to start living their lives; is cancer really only a wake up call? As humans, we have been given the power, the ability, to make choices. The New Year seems to remind us and grant us permission to use this ability in the form of resolutions. We proclaim to make changes and start taking new paths. It’s not just the start of something new; it’s a new beginning.

Do you find that you are extremely tired towards the end of the year? Our bodies know that we have gone through a whole year of hard work and, during the holidays, they will catch up on the rest they need. Now we are in the new year, it starts all over again. Our exhaustion starts clocking up right now. Eight hours is often quoted as the recommended daily amount we should sleep. Limiting ourselves to four or five just isn’t enough. Sleep is our time to rest, recuperate, re-gather our energy and prepare ourselves for the events of the following day, physically and mentally.

There isn’t enough time in the day to do everything we need, let alone want, so we find ourselves pushing exhaustion to the corners of our buzzing minds and making an appointment with sleep for a later date. The next day rolls on; we drag ourselves up, un-gum our eyes and sit on the toilet, still asleep, but with our eyes open.

As much as I love my lay-ins, I can’t help but think, like my grandparents say, I’m wasting my life. We sleep when we’re dead. On our days off we should do things, open our eyes and appreciate the world. We should do the things that are stopping us from getting our eight hours of sleep.

Perhaps take some time to go on holiday. While our economy is bad, it seems Iceland (the country) has offered us a cheap escape, from a chilling credit crunch to a frosty winter wonderland. Until recently, a beer would cost more than a fiver in Reykjavik and the top tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon, would cost at least £23. But, since the bottom has fallen out of Iceland’s economy and the krona has dived by up to 65% against the pound, we are in for a nearly half-price get away.

The words “half price” are so attractive to us these days, especially as unemployment is up. Figures in the UK are currently at 1.82 million and are predicted to rise. Going in to 2009 does not excite many people who have lost jobs and would have just spent money on Christmas and New Year. Surely, January 2009 would be the perfect time to renounce your former self and make a change? Do we live to work or work to live? As the lyric in A Chorus Line asks, “Who am I anyway, am I my résumé?”

Now that we have looked at our holiday, our sleep deprivation and our job situation, we turn our thoughts to that someone special who is missing in our lives. Since 1986, the number of single people in England and Wales has doubled, twice over. It seems people are more independent. Or is it because people are too picky these days? Too fat or too thin. It’s all too 2008. There are so many ways to meet new people now; internet, evening classes, the gym... Are people too choosy or are they just holding out for someone perfect?

The perfect relationship – could it be between two people of the same sex? Between two men that aren’t even sexually attracted to one another? Two women who enjoy each other’s company so much that they decide they don’t need anything else in their lives? Two people, not even lovers, who have found happiness together? Why do so many people find that odd? Most homosexuals will say it hasn’t been easy being gay. Does that mean that the straight life is easy? Or is it that straight people are easy? I thought it was gay men who had that branding? If you could take a pill to change you from gay to straight would you take it? I wonder how much of your personality would change along with your sexual preference.

Entering 2009, our new beginning, we should take some time to think about everything important to us and the choices in our lives, for our future.

Don’t count your years; make your years count.