The good life

10:18am Tuesday 30th December 2008

New Year’s resolutions are all too easily broken, says Gabrielle Fagan.

Boost your wellbeing with our guide to getting the most out of life.

STARTING WELL

NO sooner is Christmas over the horizon than New Year looms along with all those potential resolutions.

Many of us will resolve to get slimmer, fitter, fulfil promises made in cards to ‘see you in 2009’, plan to join countless worthy clubs, be nicer to relatives we don’t like, and – crucially – strive to by happy.

While all those pledges are fun to make, they’re incredibly easy to break, so before you make that list that means you’ve got to somehow morph, Dr Who-style, into something different from the way you were in 2008, it could be worth taking some refreshingly honest hints and tips from Janet Street-Porter.

At just past 60, this outspoken broadcaster and journalist, who took up the challenge of ‘I’m A Celebrity...

Get Me Out Of Here’, is happy in her own skin, has finally found a haircut she likes (most women’s ultimate dream), and accepts that no matter how hard she tries, some people will hate her guts.

And typically she has a novel approach to New Year resolutions. She says: “Frankly, instead of making New Year resolutions it’s far better to make a list of the things that you’re not going to do any longer.

You’ll not only find it easier to stick to, but you’ll get more fun out of life.”

Instead she says: “Just take a few hours on your own to make a plan for yourself. Decide what you are not going to do anymore – the people you are not going to call back, the books you will never read, the relatives you can send to social Siberia!”

And after that, she suggests, you could add the food you are not going to cook (and the cooks you’re not going to try to copy, from Nigella to Delia), the men you’re not going to wait on hand and foot any more, the clothes you’re not going to buy, the stuff you don’t need, and the boring job you’re not going to suffer any longer.

She’s decanted this wisdom for 2009 and other top tips into her witty self-help manual, Life’s Too F***ing Short. She hopes it’s an antidote to all the advice we’re bombarded with daily from fashion and beauty experts through to celebrities on how to look and live perfectly.

“The end result, after watching TV, reading magazines, and newspapers looking at all those celebrity tips and airbrushed perfection, is a feeling of utter exhaustion, a sense of confusion and inadequacy.

Frankly, who needs it,” she says firmly.

She suggests that after that cull of unwanted activities and actions, you make only a daily list with no more than five or six things on it. “On a day-to-day basis, don’t make lists you can’t achieve. Don’t carry over more than a couple of things to the next day’s list.

“Plan your time to make sure that every week you set aside a slot for stuff you want to do – grow lettuces on the windowsill, go to evening classes, join a walking club, learn another language, learn to disco dance.

Life’s too short to put off starting things. Even if you only do one and maybe find you don’t like it you’ll still feel better for trying.

“Establish your own rules and stick to them.”

TREATING WELL

WITH a spate of colds now sweeping the nation, there’s no better time to invest in some preventative care. But don’t necessarily dive for powerful medicines that might leave you feeling groggy. There are plenty of good natural remedies on the market. We recommend Nelson’s Echinacea & Elderberry Spray, £7.50, from napiers.net.

The original recipe dates back to 1870, and it should be taken at the first sign of feeling poorly or getting the sniffles.

In fact, many people are now going retro to treat their health, following a trend for yesteryear and nostalgia.

The concern about the over-use of antibiotics has prompted a surge of interest in homeopathy. Responding to the trend, Nelsons and The School of Homeopathy have linked up to produce a brand new Homeopathy First Aid Kit.

It’s incredibly comprehensive and includes a set of 28 homeopathic medicines including popular remedies such as Belladonna, Chamomilla, Nux vomica and Arnica.

Novices can learn from a course manual, a DVD and two books. The kit can be topped up or extended by using a set of discount vouchers, which can also be used to get reduced cost homeopathy classes.

Janet’s New Year’s resolution tips

DIETS: Don’t resolve to start a crazy new diet. Cranky diets don’t work. “The only way to stay at the right (and I mean healthy) weight is to eat three times a day, never miss a meal and eat as slowly as you possibly can. “Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, limit pasta to once a week, red meat to only a couple of times a week and drink plenty of water.

GETTING FIT: She says: “I hate gyms – life’s too short to fill up your diary with stuff you then feel bad about cancelling. Remember, every celebrity who says they spend two hours a day working out is lying through their teeth.”

Instead, buy some small weights of up to three kilos each and a secondhand exercise bike. Get up half an hour early and cycle for 30 minutes as you watch the TV or listen to the radio. Do arm curls with the weights at the same time. Walk as much as you can at lunchtimes and get off the bus a stop early on the way to work – even 30 minutes will do.

FRIENDS MATTER: Ruthlessly analyse your address book – chuck out people you haven’t seen for two years. Start a new book and only put in the people you really want to see.

“Make sure that, even though you only see real friends very occasionally, they realise they mean a lot to you. It might only be sending them a postcard every few months, but don’t let a friendship wither to extinction.”

■ Life’s Too F***ing Short by Janet Street Porter (Quadrille, £7.99).