A New Beginning

Feb 18, 2010 by Laura

Posted under: Lifestyle

So Valentines Day, the quintessential day of lovers, the archetypal day of disaster for anyone not in a relationship has finally been and gone. In all truth the whole Valentines malarkey was never an appealing idea to me even when I was in a relationship. The idea that a holiday needs to be created in order for a guy to get the hint to buy his girl some flowers or treat her like a princess is quite a depressing thought in itself. Add onto that the fact that I am single and it is the perfect recipe for disaster.

Now, my lovely single ladies, you are not alone! Today marks the beginning of a new era. After a torrent of teenage heartache during my adolescent years I have learnt that nothing affects a person like a broken heart and gosh, do we all need some advice from time to time. Now forget those tempting nights in with Ben and Jerry and discard those secret stashes of chocolate and girly movies. We are moving on.

My most recent ‘unlucky in love’ moment has been quite horrendous. Unwillingly I have fallen for one of the most desired men I know. Really a rather silly thing to do as of course there is a girl who is undeniably beautiful, bubbly and simply impossible to compete with. Therefore, I have decided to start writing about my trials and tribulations giving you ladies a bit of advice along the way. Hopefully you will avoid some of the mistakes I have made.

My first piece of advice is to make plans for your life that don’t surround men. Lent is upon us and this year I plan to do a number of things. Who knows, if I succeed through lent I might just kept it up!

Lose Weight: This has been necessary since the day I hit adolescence. Now, I have said this time and time again and never succeeded but if I can’t do it for me then I must do it for another reason and what better reason than to be an inspiration to the people out there who need a new start just the same as me. This will require two things. Giving up food – not all food obviously – but the excess I eat to tend to the various miseries that cause me to look not dissimilar to a whale. Also, doing some form of exercise every day. Whether cycling to university or jogging along the beach, I vow to exercise everyday.
Participate in my good friend Joanna’s lent programme, to take a photo every day. Something to document my best moments and worst moments. Secondly, using and learning a new word everyday with the help of dictionary.com’s ‘word of the day’.
Stop feeling sorry for myself. Yes, bad things happen, but so do good things and we are going to get through the bad together.
Actually stick to these rules.

Every year I make a New Year resolution. Every year it fails and leaves me feeling utterly dejected. So this time we are starting small and insignificant… what is 40 days worth of bodily torture? Exercise and no junk food for 40 days will be easy right? Well… If all else fails I still have that costume lying around from when I stood in for Mrs. Gloop in a performance of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I have never been so padded with cushions in my life.

Wish me luck…!

By Hannah Sweetnam