When I wake up on the first morning of the year there is always that tingle of optimism at the greatness that will be achieved in the next twelve months. Opening the curtains with a flourish that hasn't greeted any of the dark and dank days since the clocks went back, the words of Nina Simone's song dance around my head, 'It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life. For me. And I'm feeling good'.
The first thing that interrupts this euphoria is that the window is being pelted with rain. Then there is the realisation that the dog walkers are not impressed that my semi-naked being is on show to the world due to a dressing gown malfunction and before long the thought of those pesky new year resolutions start weighing heavy on the mind.
For starters, that run is going to be dangerous today in that weather and who wants to start the year with a trip to A&E. To be fair, in not going and postponing until a brighter day is just saving a lot of people a lot of hassle. I am just thinking of others by staying here because a twisted knee or a broken arm will be a burden on the NHS when they have more important work to do.
The problem with this attitude is that now the year has started on a negative. Already the feeling of failure has started to seep in to my soul and before long the list of resolutions have become a record of underachievement and lies.
It looks like that we have finally rumbled the premise of New Year resolutions and it is finally the time to make them a quaint anomaly in the annals of history that future generations have a chuckle at whilst commenting about how we were all so weird in the past.
Resolutions have already started down the retro route as they read like a doctrine for reasons to be crowned Miss World. It is the usual list of eating healthier, being kind to your fellow man and striving for world peace, which are all noble ambitions but not ones that will be on your mind when you are in the McDonalds queue and the person in front is dithering.
Why should you start the year with the cloud of your resolutions hanging over you? It is time to discard this nonsense so that you can keep the positive feel of the first dawn and take that forward for the coming months. You may not feel like that run today, maybe not even tomorrow but in the spring when the sun is shining and the daffodils are out then all of a sudden a jog through the local park sounds idyllic.
All of sudden the experience is worth repeating and before long the competitor in you starts to raise its head and you are looking to run further, run quicker and you're getting fitter. It was your choice to do this and not that resolution list making demands that you don't want to fulfil. You won't be feeling shamed by its incessant tut-tutting at every day that is passed without the resolution being acted upon.
A new year is always a moment for the slate to be wiped clean but don't let yourself be bogged down by a tradition of negativity. Sure there will be bumps along the way and as JK Rowling once said, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default".
So I am going for it this year. Every morning will be welcomed with open arms and the previous day's downers will be consigned to the past. Of course I will starting running. Of course I will go on a diet but this will not be because it's a resolution, it is because I want to do it so that I finish the year feeling like a better person than I started (and be able to tie my shoe laces again).
This will all be down to no resolution to change but a desire which comes from within rather than it looking down at me from a piece of paper stuck to the fridge door. First of all though, a little lie down until this foul weather passes.