Well here we are again. Another alcohol fuelled night brought to a close another year of highs, lows, dramas, and mutton rolls. I wake up the next (well the same) morning in a JagerBomb induced haze. I lie there for a moment, deep in thought. I think about the resolutions I should make this year to add to the lists from the last five years that I still haven’t got around to doing. That’s the thing with this time of year; everyone is all about the ‘New year, new me’ malarkey. A new you? Seriously? You waited until the 1st of January of the following year to introduce the new improved you to the world? Really?

4 litres of water, 4 cups of coffee and 6 paracetamols later, ‘the Jager haze’ (as I like to call it) leaves me for another day. Right at that moment, with a rare sense of clarity, I decide to dump the ‘To Dos’ this year and just focus on a short list of 3 ‘Don’t Dos’. Being the narcissist I am, I thought I should share this with you fine people.

So here we go…

1. Don’t think about sh*t that has already happened

Excuse the language.  I find that we all spend a lot of our time thinking about things that have already happened and beat ourselves up about it. The fact that it has already happened means that we have already suffered due to this ‘thing’ happening and thinking about it repeatedly means that we are choosing to suffer again and again and again. This could be anything – failed relationships, failed exams, losing money, losing a game of football (not soccer!) or losing a loved one. As some wise girl/guy said, you can’t move forward while looking backwards (well technically you can but you may bump into something).

2. Don’t think about sh*t that hasn’t happened yet or might happen

Excuse the language again (not swearing is not on this list!). We all have ‘what if’ thoughts and they can drive you crazy and paralyse you from making the choices that will improve your life. What if I crash the car?  What if I fail? What if she says no? What if he says no? What if I don’t find another job?  The fact is that if by slim chance that it does happen, you are going to suffer anyway and you will have to deal with it then, so what is the point in suffering before it has even happened?

3. Don’t give a **** about what other people think of you

We all want to be liked. We all want everyone to think that we are a nice person and a gift to mankind. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We all probably know at least 3 people who do not like us. So what can we do about this? Well nothing really. The fact is that it is beyond your control. We are humans and we like to judge each other. We like to judge the way other people look, live, talk, and smell. That’s fine – everyone is entitled to his or her opinions. However, there is no point in worrying about what other people think about us – that’s their problem. We should live our lives how we see fit, within the boundaries of our own moral compass, not within the boundaries imposed by someone else’s insecurities. 

So here it is my very short list of ‘Don’t dos’ that I am going to focus on this year. I will bore you guys with my progress in the near future.

Have an incredibly awesome year and smile at the person next to you as they might be having a bad day.