Challenging Behaviour

Before the impetus of a new year ebbs away I am setting myself a few personal challenges for 2012. I don't do resolutions since the inevitable disappointments of deciding to give up smoking on previous New Years Days. Waking up with too little sleep and probably alcohol still coursing through my veins was not a recipe for success. I invariably congratulated myself on lasting out a few hours, once it was a whole day, before succumbing again to the evil weed. Resolutions eventually went out of the window but the very word 'challenge' has a different ring about it. So here's what I would like to do :

• Loose weight ~ yes wouldn't we all like to but I am seriously overweight - hence no photos of me on this blog. My family, friends and those  bloggers who have met me in the flesh as it were, would if they were being kind describe me as voluptuous. I would use different terminology and fully realise the risks to my health and happiness if the present state of affairs continues. I would love to have more energy for physical activities and garden and allotment would both benefit from it. What I have to loose is a secret between me in the scales. I am going to try in think of it in terms of bite sized chunks otherwise it is simply too daunting.
• As part of the above I plan to eat less meat. As a former vegetarian I should be able to manage this one. It was only the lure of the aroma of bacon butties that diverted me from the straight and narrow. I will be leafing through 'River Cottage Veg Every Day' this weekend for new recipes to experiment with.
• Take up tai chi again lessons. I started tai chi last year but sadly when my father was seriously ill last year had to put up it to one side. It's a gentle form of a physical exercise and a excellent for warming up before gardening or hitting the allotment.
• I am going to resist buying any more books until I have read those already in my possession. The bookshelves are groaning and eventually in need of a good prune.
• This year is going to be the year that I come up with a master plan for the allotment on paper before there has been too much sowing and growing. No more last minute panic as to where certain crops are going to reside or trying to remember what grew where last year.
• Finally I am going to crack successional sowing, catch cropping etc etc. I will be participating in Veg Plotting's The 52 Week Salad Challenge. Feeling full of enthusiasm I called in at Wilkos this morning whilst shopping making one or two purchases to get me focused. I resisted the urge to purchase this season's blue seed cell trays. 

I will report back next year as to how I fared with these challenges but on and around the 27th of each month as far as the last challenge is concerned.

P.S. I did give up smoking eventually starting on a National No Smoking Day (14th March this year) and never looking back.