Yeh..Right!

This is how I finished my last blog entry two weeks ago:

I finish this blog then with some neat little objectives until my next entry:

• start and maintain my new Food & Drink regime
• start practising my singing and playing
• sort out some finances
• write another blog entry by the end of the week
  
  

  When I look at these bold declarations I'm  not sure whether to laugh at, cry for, ridicule or feel sorry for the poor deluded fool that wrote such utter nonsense. Then I realise it's me that's written the utter nonsense and then a terrible sense of awareness that I've been saying and writing such nonsense for a very long time dawns on me.It could send me into a spiral of despair and hopelessness, the realisation that my plans always end up in tatters and the same old patterns of negative behaviour triumphantly establish themselves yet again.
  
  That however is not going to happen. And it's not going to happen because I'm a positive person and I believe that change is always possible even if every attempt in the past has resulted in abject failure. If you can't believe that the next time is the time that things will succeed then there is very little point in carrying on. So. Let's examine the failures, face them full on and try again.
  
  The first objective was the new food and drink regime. Result? Failure. I've been  eating and drinking as though the end of the world was nigh and everyone was joining me in the last hedonistic hurrah. My excuse? I've been on holiday to the Peak District, had a lovely time and didn't want to worry about restricting myself in any sense. Denial, restriction and holiday do not go together. I've been back just today and tomorrow I'm off again for a couple of days in a nice hotel with my girlfriend. This means the new diet regime will not start in the next two days.
  
  My second objective has partly been met.I took my ukelele on holiday and did sing a bit whilst knocking back the gin and tonics and takeaway curries. So not a complete failure.
  
  The third objective was around finances and this has gone well and I do feel pretty much that I have organised where I should put my money for the time being. I could go into detail about this but I will leave that to a future blog and hopefully there may be some points of interest for anyone else having to put their finances in order once they have started retirement. It's certainly a challenging time in the UK to know the best way to sort out how one can invest one's pension money so that the capital stays intact during the retirement years.
  
  The last objective was to write the next blog within a week of the last one and I failed that one too. However, as I was on holiday I am not going to beat myself up to much about that failure. My next trip tomorrow will be the last of about six or seven trips that I have taken since June and as a consequence it's been very difficult to establish any sort of routine and therefore difficult to meet any routine based objectives. Once September is out the way I will then be starting my part-time job, I will be spending time here at home and hopefully I can really get to grips with the weight and health side of things. That will be my focus during October so I hope you will join me as I finally put to the test my resolve to lose weight, get fit and make some permanent changes, setting myself up physically for the opportunities presented by retirement.
  
  As Edison might have said, I haven't failed I have just found 100 plus ways not to succeed at losing weight and getting fit. The successful attempt is always the next one.
  
  Toodle Pip