If tomorrow never comes

If tomorrow never comes


We’re told that no country is going to have as much influence on global matters in the coming years as China so I’m going to nod in their direction and start my New Years’ Resolutions in line with the Chinese New Year.
That date was yesterday, January 23, and hopefully I’ll have more luck with resolutions from then than from January 1.
The last few weeks have been so hectic that I didn’t get the chance to make any New Year’s resolutions to break them. If I had sat down to write out such a list, commencing on January 1, I’d be fairly certain I wouldn’t have made it this far without breaking most, if not all, of them.
There’s nothing new in that. I’m a study in lack of discipline when it comes to new regimes. Full of an ability to talk the talk, I’ve rarely managed to so much as tie the shoelaces to walk the walk. I guess I sometimes walk the walk. Pity it is when I calf five minutes into my first run and have to walk back home, tail suitably between my legs.
I was into a good routine before Christmas, in the gym three to four times a week and feeling that I could be in decent shape come this time in January if I was able to keep it up. Therein lay the rub – keeping it up.
I could make any amount of reasonably legitimate excuses – being sick for three weeks, having so many ‘must go to’ occasions etc – but the reality is that I found the comfort zone, opened too many boxes of Quality Street, enjoyed too many of mother’s homemade brownies and kept Diageo solvent.
I had a ‘good’ Christmas. Trouble was it extended well into January. There was the Breaffy GAA dinner-dance one night, a 30th birthday fancy dress the next.
Everywhere I looked was a reason to keep saying ‘tomorrow’. The good eating and active exercise regime could wait until then.
Take-aways always felt like an easier option than cooking myself – especially when my last effort saw me fall asleep while the oven was on, there’s no alarm clock capable of getting you from the land of nod to Meerkat alertness in rapid time quite like a smoke alarm.
So the close availability of Domino’s – a two minute walk – just became too hard to resist some nights. I did manage to resist the ultra-lazy option and get it delivered.
But, as I write, it is Chinese New Year, so a new day beckons. But as a tip to our eastern brethren, I think I should go for a Chinese take-away tonight. The new regime can start, you’ve guessed it, tomorrow.