The Season of Self-Loathing

The season of self-loathing is with us again. Emerging bleary-eyed and corpulent from the tarnished tinsel, I am seized with the need for renewal: spiritual, physical, psychological and intellectual. But where to start? It is all too easy to be overly zealous in the first few days of the New Year and over-commit to regimes that are soon abandoned because of the impingement of the daily round, leading to further feelings of inadequacy and self-disgust. As we shed our New Year resolutions like so much sloughed skin, our weak and feeble bodies and intentions are laid bare before us and, in examining our failure, we justify our own self-loathing. Far better then, to set very modest targets....and then half them.... and then half them again. This way we can be clear-eyed and realistic about what we can actually achieve, achieve it consistently, feel pleased with our achievement and pride in ourselves, and be renewed and refreshed as we intended.