Dear LPG,

Now that the New Year is coming into focus the word ‘resolution’ often hits the air and can be found on the lips of many a person. It is when we get to that time when the cold has well and truly set in and Christmas is over for another year, that looking to the future and lots more of the same unexciting lifestyle might just make the case for something new to do.

It is true that anyone can decide to start something new at any time during any year, but this is when tradition either spurs you on or memories of past years and those failed attempts at new year achievements put you off. 

 We pensioners are the people in the age range where we have all the time in the world, or so we are led to believe, and that often leads to feelings of procrastination, but I urge each LPG reader to consider what you are going to be able to say was your biggest achievement of 2022 when, this time next year, we are squarely staring 2023 in the eye.

We are all used to Covid-19 by now and, while it is still out there, one thing that we all need to resolve and agree on is that we are not going to let it have the same effect on our personal 2022 as it did on 2021.  Can you remember this time last year when we all thought that the year we are now leaving held so much promise for getting back to normal?

So I ask again, what does 2022 hold for you? 

If you are already involved with all you can handle (and more) and you have so much to do that you seem to be running a race that you are not winning, perhaps this is the time to stand back and take an objective look at what you can delegate or give up to make your life a less hurried affair.  If there is some ambition or achievement that has eluded you until now, perhaps this is the year that will bring the breakthrough or the year when you will actually get started; think positive now.

I took a look on line and found that the most popular resolutions start with the way we look and I think that it is a myth that we oldies don’t care.  Being kinder to yourself by managing and organising your time is also high on all our lists of significance.  These are things we should all be reviewing all year round but if you need a day to mark the start of a new regime perhaps, this should be the most important project on all our priority lists, and next Saturday, after the anti-climax that the week after Christmas often brings with it, may just be a good day to get going…

You may also be in that position where you need to have something to look forward to but know not what. If you are brave enough to resolve to do something completely new or there is something specific you have always planned to attack, now is the time to work out your first move but if you haven’t made your mind up yet, I have asked LPG to leave a list or two of possible ideas that just might fit the bill… 

Whatever your resolve, when it arrives I wish all LPG readers a very happy and productive new year…

RP, Croydon

RP offers some suggestions to fire the thought processes…

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