Are you ready? Not quite? Almost?

Jools Holland was on the telly, the champagne was open, the streamers ready. Cut to Big Ben, the familiar chimes start and the first BONG of 2017 rings out to millions of houses across the UK. Cheers, jubilance and excitement. A whole 12 months of exciting plans…

Except I’m not quite sure I’m ready, I’m not sure my plans are finished and my feet aren’t quite on the starting blocks.

I’m feeling the pressure to pull a “whole new me,” out of the bag and to attack each day. To fizz and sparkle and to sprinkle it everywhere.

We do this though don’t we? Put ourselves under huge amounts of stress, to be more, say more, do more, than we did in the previous year. We spend the last few days of December looking at all the things that have gone wrong in the last 12 months and then make a vow to put them all right in one fell swoop come the first of the first.

So, let me say that again…. Having spent several days of the Christmas holiday telling ourselves what an almighty cock-up we have made of the previous 365 days, we promise ourselves we will rectify the whole situation as of midnight.

Overwhelm? Much? My head hurts even thinking about it, and that’s without the champagne! So when you ask if I’m ready, I’m going to say, I’m thinking about being ready. No, that isn’t to say that I don’t have goals, ideas and plans, of course I do. I’m taking this planning shit seriously. However, I’ve no interest in the knee jerk reaction of resolutions, the pressure or the overwhelm and the feeling of failure come the end of January, as yet again I realise I tried to do too much. Sound familiar?

Plans, moves forwards, goals, life changes, whatever you want to call them, are all about the next smallest step. Sure I have grand ideas of where I’d like to be this time in 2018, but for now, I’m going to concentrate on the small stuff.

I’m going to concentrate on showing up. Because the smallest thing can also be the most difficult. Following your heart, your dreams and your goals with the tiny steps that it takes for change to take place, is all about showing up. It’s all about persistence, it’s about showing up each day rather than giving up. It’s about taking the crappy days and still walking, even if it’s with the teenyist and most unsure of steps, it’s about being in it for the long haul.

And as for being late to the party, I like to make sure I’m at the right one, with the right people.