2019 has just passed by and now we are at the first day of a New Year again, bright eyed bushy tailed and ready to make massive changes, just like we say every New Year’s Eve at midnight. So how are you all feeling today and what are those changes?

I could make a list of what is on your mind right now; PJs, Nurofen, a big fry up, the sofa and some TV to escape the hangover and having to face the reality of a long month ahead and another resolution to join Weight Watchers again before returning back to work to pay off massive bills.

Of course this is not everyone because many people have already realised, a three month build up to an anticlimactic, expensive food fest and consumer driven frenzy, brought on by big brands, the media and addiction, is just not appropriate anymore.

Today after all the world celebrations, New Year promises and self-indulgences, nothing has changed in the big picture, in fact it has only got worse, the mysterious Corona Virus on it's way and the more we bury our heads in the Christmas pudding, down the neck of a bottle or in denial of what is really happening, the bigger the problems become for us all.

Take today to think not about who will be your Valentine in February, what Easter eggs you’re buying in April, where you can go on holiday for the July fortnight, the next fix to look forward to on the roller-coaster of tradition but instead, why you keep doing something every year that in reality does nothing but make you feel more depressed and less likely to be happy.

The emergency departments across the country last night came to a standstill again and people who needed real help got left out in the cold because drunks selfishly stretched medical teams to their limits.

My advice for anyone brave enough to admit any of the above might resonate with them is to take a look at someone who is desperate to live, someone desperate for peace, a home, some food, comfort or shelter and make this New Year, 2020 about giving back, not just taking for yourself.

Updated 8th Oct, 2020

This year we have been forced to look hard at the damage we are doing to our planet and ultimately ourselves. I think the big lesson for us all this year is we are all connected in nature, by nature but when we mess with nature instead of appeciating it, we feel it's force. This year my Christmas will be the same as last year, simple. I'm in the place where needing nothing is having everything.

Photo by: mauro paillex Unsplash