I CHALLENGE anyone to find someone who hasn’t experienced The Seven O’Clock Shame on Christmas Day.
Let me explain: it’s seven o’clock in the evening on Christmas day and you are lying comatose on the sofa watching television’s latest Christmas offering when your tummy rumbles. And not in a good way.
It’s your stomach screaming at you for those four too many pigs in blankets, that extra dollop of brandy butter on grandma’s lethally alcoholic Christmas pud, and that ‘oh-go-on-then’ last drop of sherry.
And in that moment, when you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, you have fully experienced The Seven O’Clock Shame.
But now it’s the new year and you feel galvanised into change – you promise yourself this year will be different, this year you’ll be a better ‘you’.
*1. Get Fit
Peel yourself off your sofa and out of your food-induced hibernation and be amongst the millions each year who renew their long-dormant gym membership and shop for the newest pair of designer trainers in the sale.
Look at deals, exploit taster sessions and think outside the box, because running on treadmill isn’t for everyone and the more you enjoy something, the more likely you are to stick at it.
*2. Take up a new hobby
Whether it’s joining a choir, taking up a dance class or getting out the old stamp-collecting book – hobbies are an important part of our lives.
Hobbies allow our brains to switch off and relax, without becoming complete couch potatoes, and are the perfect chance to meet new like-minded people.
*3. De-Clutter you life
As with most of the old sayings and wives tales, with ‘a tidy house, a tidy mind’ there is an element of truth in there somewhere.
Surveys have shown that clutter causes of unnecessary stress and prevent home owners from inviting friends over – often leaving them feeling overwhelmed by mess in their homes.
Why suffer all that extra stress those take-away leaflets that you have kept for ‘rainy days’ bring, when a mission with bin liner and vacuum cleaner in hand does the trick?
*4. Do a good deed
Some of us are programmed to give up our spare time to help other people, while some of us aren’t.
Nothing good has ever come from pointing the finger and ordering people to do community work and help others – in fact, it’s more likely to have the opposite affect.
Help someone across the road, help a neighbour carry their shopping up the stairs, even just smiling at a stranger who looks like they could use a friendly face – even a simple good deeds like these promise to leave you with that warm-fuzzy feeling you get inside.
*5. Do something unexpected
Don’t let 2015 roll by as another run-of-the-mill year – just another one to add to ‘The Great Un-Memorable Blur Years’ of your life.
Surprise yourself, your family and friends by doing something a little different, adding a few more photos to the album while you go.
So, when you’re inevitably enduring The Seven O’Clock Shame on Christmas Day 2015 you can at least cling to the memories of your productive year to get you through.
