Happy New Year Everyone! Ok so I’m almost a week late but it has taken me until today to realise that we’re in a new, fresh, exciting year and that deserves and new blog!
I’m starting 2014 with the intention of having a more open mind in terms of what a year can hold and with the view that this year is part of a bigger picture and I am a work in progress. It will not be a stand alone event but a metaphorical and literal journey. I hope to share some of the more note worthy (fingers crossed there are some!) things that happen along with some extra ramblings with you in this blog.
2014 So Far: Today is Day 1 of a 7 day Juice Cleanse
This is not a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. This is a fun event created by the manager of my yoga school that I felt enthusiastic to be a part of. Plus they make all the juice for you so it seemed like the simplest way to do a ‘Juice Feast’ for the first time. So far I have drunk a mystery green juice which I have to admit was a bit ‘so-so’ until I get more used to it and a delicious carrot and ginger juice. This is all being washed down by copious amounts of herbal tea as I feel freezing today – it is January in Scotland.
Anyway I’ll try to write a bit every day as a sort of juice journal, so more to come. Trickiest part of this first day was not surprisingly lunch time in the office and everyone sat at their desks eating soup – I was hoping they would all eat in the canteen. So the room was full of yummy warming smells. However it does seem that everyone was on some kind of detox/soup diet/plan – we tend to spend the whole of January feeling guilty for the whole of December. But I have been spoiling myself by feasting on these juicy delights, my little sordid health secrets tucked away (well taking up a lot of space) in the fridge. And not out of guilt or weight loss as I don’t think I would stick to the cleanse if that was my ‘motivation’. Just to do a bit of a clear out, as I’m trying to do in every aspect of my life right now and I’m really excited about all this juice!
Funnily enough this year I haven’t set myself any New Year Resolutions (I think they should be called Reallyshouldutions). I think I jinx them by committing them to paper and I somewhat set myself up for ‘failure’ as the list seems to come down to a set of challenges and basically things I feel I ‘should’ do or maybe I don’t WANT to do enough. Why do we write these lists? I’m not sure. I don’t think they’re a bad thing but this year I don’t feel I need them. I am going to take this year more as it comes and make the most of it. If I had an actual list it would be to break old habits and make better choices.
Before now it sort of felt like 2013 was dragging out and instead of 365 days, last year was going to break the mould and round itself up to 370. Why not?! Well, my answer would be that although every year is full of wonderment, 2013 was a bit of a struggle. There were roller-coaster highs and lows the same as every year and maybe I haven’t taken the time to remember it all fully, but it just seemed to grind me down a bit from after September. Having said that, my birthday is the end of September and I had the distinct feeling of the ‘end of a year’ then rather than on the last day of December so really I have been waiting 3 months for 2014. Anyway now it’s here, hurrah!
I plan to digest and reflect over the past year in the upcoming 3 months when I’ll be able to get some space and time, quite literally, to do so. This is the exciting part of the year to come – at the beginning of next month I shall be parting company with my, er, company and business partner. I am lucky enough that my other job will be put on hold, I am hopeful that my house will be rented out and I shall embark on a year of foreign people, places and personal development (I cringed at the last bit too but I guess that’s what I’m hoping for).
So onto a more revitalising, exciting and adventurous year of the Horse (not that I know what that means). I love the ‘New Year, New You’ feeling and buzzing anticipation which almost a week on has not yet subsided. for the new year.
End of Day 1: Fave juice = the Purple one: beetroot, celeriac, apple, ginger, lemon = really tasty, who’d have thought?!
Hunger: fine, no really. I have consumed god knows how many fruit and veg in the 5 litres of juice I’ve drunk. If you put all that on a plate, I imagine it would be physically hard to eat it all.
Mood: Hmm was feeling a bit ‘internal’ kinda introvert today but maybe just needing to be a bit quieter and calmer. Hopefully won’t have a mental tantrum over this week or an emotional wobble but it’s all part of the fun I guess!
francesculpin 