greentapestry : Challenging Behaviour

Friday 6 January 2012

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. 

11 comments:

  1. Well done for stopping smoking, Anna. I stopped on 29th March 2010, shortly after stopping work. It was a case of not being able to afford to smoke anymore. I stopped for five years previously, at the time I started trying for a family, and until my youngest was a year old, and then family tragedy had me hooked once again. This time, the weight gain has spiralled out of control so I really need to shed some pounds this year. I don't have any resolutions, but like you, I've given myself some challenges, some rather nice ones too, (I wrote about them on my Through The Keyhole blog). Hope you manage to stick to your other challenges too, it will be interesting to look back at this time next year and see how we've done.

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  2. My word - that is quite a list of challenges - and I must agree I have groaning bookcases too with books waiting to be read - and I was given a gardening diary by my grandson for Christmas ( who will be watching to see that I make good use of it) - so I have decided to complete this alongside my other blog Marigold - she says! Have a good weekend - Jane

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  3. It's going to be a good year! You are the second, with London Laura of patiopatch, no longer smoking.

    I shall follow the salad challenge with interest. Hoping to get bitten by the grow our own bug along the way.

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  4. I've been quitting the cigs on and off for about eight years; since we arrived here. Not easy in a country where everyone seems to smoke.
    I quit for absolute cetain last September and that's it, I'm done with it. Good luck Anna. Stay resolved and don't weaken, you'll beat yourself up if you do. One thing at a time.

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  5. Blue module trays? That would match the sheds!

    Mind you, no Wilko's round here. And last year's green ones still have a season or two in them. Guess it's time to start filling the bath with Milton and hot water and soaking my seed trays for the coming frenzy.

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  6. I'm impressed with your resolve and would like to match it with my own. Thanks for the honest report.

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  7. I chuckled at the not buying any more books challenge - I need to take up that challenge too. Also my allotment is planned in my head (generally in the early hours) but yet to be committed to paper so there is one plan not the many float in my head.

    I found signing up to weighwatchers online worked for me. I have an addictive personality and became obsesssed with recording the no of points I had consumed and how many I had saved - worth a go

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  8. Hi Anna,

    Good luck with the challenges - I hear you on them all, and we were discussing getting rid of some books a few days ago.

    Changing eating habits can be very difficult, especially when working and coming home too tired to be cooking much and reaching for the easiest and probably worst option.

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  9. Good luck with your not buying anymore books. That will be a tough one. Happy New Year Anna.

    btw thank you for all your visits to my blog and leaving such lovely comments.

    p.s. well done for managing to give up the evil weed :-)

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  10. 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.

    That sounds familiar - we took a big bag of books to Oxfam this week, then wandered round all the charity shops while we were in town and went home with another big bag of books ...

    We seem to end up doing this every year, and I haven't read all the ones I've got yet either.

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  11. Good luck with your resolutions. I need to adopt a few of these, too. I have been thinking of eating less meat, too, and I love tai chi, but lent my dad my DVD and haven't seen it since. I hate to ask for it back. Maybe I'll just buy another. I can't resist books. I don't even try.

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All your comments are much appreciated and treasured. I wil try to reply to everyone who leaves a comment, but it may take me a few days, especially when I start spending more time in the garden and at the lottie. I know that you will understand :) I am sure that I will also visit your blog if I have not already done so. If you have any specific questions I will either reply to them here or you can email me at : thegreentapestry@gmail.com

Namasté

- Anna.