Another writer banging on about new year’s resolutions.
Sorry, but it is that time of the year when we’re all supposed to sit back and reflect on the year that was and the one that has begun.
The new year is usually a slow news time so papers, magazines, even TV shows are full of tips on resolutions - which ones are setting the trend, how to keep them and how to justify breaking them.
And we’re also subjected to the new year’s resolutions of Australia’s celebrity B-listers - revelations I look forward to each year before I decide on what my own should be.
This year there’s a lot of patience, reflection, kindness and love.
Not as many quitters - of smoking, drinking, partying - and a few more of our red carpet crawlers looking to get fitter.
Jen Hawkins wants to run for an hour instead of 40 minutes, while Toni Pearen is determined to eat less sugar.
They’re all fine resolutions and although they’re not going to change the world as we know it, but they are all a bit same old, same old.
After spending the past week-and-a-half with my younger sister and the rest of the extended family, and experiencing the usual year-end drama and discourse, I sat down today and thought about what it was that I wanted to achieve in 2012 on my own personal front.
I enlisted the help of PlayStation as we sat on the beach and soaked up the first rays of sunshine for the summer and contemplated life in that age-old Aussie tradition.
This year, I have resolved to do a number of things that PlayStation reckons will change not just my life, but his and a lot of other people around me as well.
My first resolution for 2012 is to remember not to include my younger sister in my self-image sabotage. I will not laugh when she selects a feminine, frilly frock and remark that those delicate ensembles will not just look inappropriate, but there is no way our manly shoulders would even make it past the elbows when we try to struggle into it in the fitting rooms.
I am not allowed this year to comment on the stickers with which other families choose to decorate their vehicles. PlayStation has made me promise that whenever I see a stick figure family, a frangipani or other awareness labels on cars, I am to smile instead of grimace and remember that everyone has a right to express their opinion - even if it is on their car.
I will remember that as well as three children I also have a husband, who although nearing 50, likes to be mothered and taken care of as much as his offspring.
In 2012, I have been asked to refrain from beaming ridiculously from the outside of the gymnastic mat when PlayStation manages to complete a two-second handstand. (More like five seconds, says PlayStation.)
I am also making a promise to keep my hands on my lap at the dinner table and let everyone finish their meals before I start picking the best bits off their plates - like the icing on the cake.
PlayStation has also asked me to add to that list to remember that I do have three children, and this year he would like to have more pictures taken of him than of the dog and for me to remember his swimmers so he no longer has to go to training in his knickers.
Finally, I will resolve not to re-enact a Bondi rescue on my own when my son is testing his skills on his first surfing safari and embarrass him and myself.
I will endeavour to keep all these resolutions, but even if I don’t there is always next year.
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