As another year comes to a close and we recover from the festive season, our thoughts turn to a new year and the inevitable New Year Resolutions.

We are bombarded with articles on what New Year Resolutions we should make, how to make them and why we need to make them - only to find that by the end of January, resolutions we made at New Year have fallen by the wayside.

I have always used New Year's Eve to write my goals and dreams for the next year.  I'm a firm believer in setting goals but since starting my blog after retiring, I've had a slight shift in my mindset.  I have always been a goal setter, with drive to achieve said goals, perhaps due to my over-riding desire to please and feel worth. However, I think that most of us are not configured that way.

What happens when we set our resolutions and then we don't achieve them? 

When we don’t achieve our resolutions, we feel as if we have failed or maybe we don't really care. Either way the feeling is not great and we don't improve ourselves in any way.

This year, I'm focussing on making changes to my life.  I'm not setting unrealistic goals regarding the usual suspects such as losing weight, quitting smoking (although I don't smoke), saving money, running a marathon or the myriad of other resolutions that we set.

I'm all for goal setting however, this coming year, I'm not setting any specific goals per se.  I'm just aiming for one thing and that is to live a happy and contented life.  Now that is not as easy as it sounds!  I want to make changes in my life that are permanent and long term which will make this goal a reality.

We live in a fast-paced world where we are often judged by how much we have in a material sense, the large house, the fast car, the holiday and the list goes on. But this isn’t what I want to be judged upon.

Each year I select a word that I want to focus my life around.  In 2016 it was Balance as I tried to achieve a more balanced approach to life.  2017 was Simplify and I endeavoured to lead a simpler yet fulfilling life, with less time on Social Media!!!

My word for 2018 will be ‘thrive’ and I'm going to focus on being Over 50 & Thriving. 

To me, thriving means:

· growing as a person,

· living & appreciating each day,

· treating others with love and respect and

· being the best person I can be.

I want to set an example to my grandchildren that these simple traits are the most important 'goals' we can set and achieve.

I want to live each day and have no regrets.  As I have often written life is short and can end at any time.  We have no control of this however we have control over how we live and whether we appreciate what we have.

I will probably still write out a list of my goals but I realise if I keep my focus I will probably achieve my goals anyway because of my newly found mindset.

This is my dream for 2018, so who wants to thrive with me?