Dear January 2023... this is the year I'm going to cook more, crack 10,000 steps a day and commit to reading at least a book a month, writes columnist Lauren Abbott.

Except reader, it's not. I mean it might be, but the signs aren't good. For a start, it's rained the last two days so my step count has hovered around a paltry 4,000 to the point that even the face on the watch is laughing at me.

If you thought the internet would have you believe everyone is abroad come summer, social media over the past few days would suggest each of us has waved a considered goodbye to 2022 and is starting the new year ready to be an entirely different version of ourselves.

Lose weight, adopt a hobby, get fit, work less, travel more, stop substituting breakfast for three biscuits at 10am. Alright, the last one could just apply to me but you get the idea. Combined with the trend for vision boards, journals and affirmations that 2023 is going to be THE year. The year for what though?

I am struggling with this growing concept that a year has to be brilliant or it's terrible.

Perhaps it comes from photo montages and memories collated in phones at the touch of a button - which prompts us to look back as the clock strikes midnight - but 365 days can't possibly be all good or even all bad. Twelve months has peaks and troughs and we're setting ourselves up for quite the annual failure if we feel obliged to declare come December 31 whether it's thumbs up or thumbs down.

What's more - two thirds of people reportedly abandon New Year's resolutions within a fortnight. January is bleak, money is tight, germs are rife and many are worn out after the demands of Christmas, it's not the month for going to war with ourselves.

'By all accounts the second Friday of January is nicknamed 'quitters day'. It also happens to be Friday the 13th this year - just saying...'

Realistic goals don't come from just giving something up or doing something more - by all accounts the second Friday of January is nicknamed 'quitters day' for this very reason. It also happens to be Friday the 13th this year - just saying.

What's more if you're attempting to visualise something you want or aspire to be, what's the sense in waiting a year for it?

I do however like the idea of mini monthly resolutions. Let's sneak past those early January days where the pressure to pledge is on and aim for something more achievable depending on your calendar, work plans, home life or in my case the long-range weather forecast.

So, Dear February....

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