2009 - how will you make the best of it?

Deep rooted sense of change here too!

I can feel it in my gut,bones,belly. I'm no longer a woose. I will stand up and be counted. And I am the boss of all bosses in this house!

So there! ?

It's seriously going to be the year where I do as I say I will do. In fact, I wont say a word I'll just do it. I'm going to be 50 in 2009 ? but feel like 30 something so there you go. How can I possibly have reached this age without noticing?

I used to be a very optimistic person, always seeing the best of a situation. I think now, looking back, I was very much a "head in the sand" person really. My way of dealing with bad news was to smile cheerfully, ignore it and carry on.

We've had to learn some VERY harsh financial lessons in the last 12/18 months (we had our house reposessed and then we went bankrupt) and I am a totally different person now. Unfortunately the 'happy-go-lucky' part of me seems to have gone (for now) and I'm much more anxious and stress-y that I ever was before. I'm now on anti-depressants and they definitely are working, but iIm not the person I was, not by a long shot.

However, I am trying hard to see the good things for us - we may not have much, but we have no debt at all, we owe nothing to anyone..... we're a strictly cash only operation these days, if we can't afford it we can't have it - a simple philosophy but one we should have learnt a long time ago.

So, what will we do to make the best of 2009? Looking forward to being discharged (what a horrible term!) in Feb and finally putting it behind us..... maybe finally starting to build some savings, continuing to see my mental health improve and hoping to maybe get some part of the old me back ?

I am changing a few things in my life for 2009.

I am not going to look too far ahead, you really don't know what is around the corner.

I am only going to get involved with peoples problems if they ask for help or I feel I can help them, I am going to stop taking on everyone's problems and bringing myself down with them.

I am going to live for today - *** tomorrow

Life is too short so I am going to do everything I can and make use of every opportuntity that arises for me - who knows when the next one will appear.

Not so much a deep-rooted sense of change (it's been dawning on us for a while that the current situation was going to happen and that what preceded it was completely unsustainable), but for a number of reasons more a way of adapting to it, mentally and practically.

We are both self-employed and as a result feel pretty vulnerable at the moment, especially with our sizeable liabilities. That said, the recession has brought - my OH particularly - new opportunities as well as greater risks. We do feel the pressure in terms of increased competition for a smaller amount of business, so we need to look at how we can raise our game this way.

One further significant change is that we are expecting another baby in early 2009. This is focusing my mind particularly in what is the optimum work/family balance, but with the added dimension of feeling the pressure to continue to work - and harder.

For us, it will be an interesting and challenging year in a number of ways and one that I'm pretty anxious about to be honest. Interesting times to be sure! Just got to go for it, I suppose.

After 4 rather awful years in a row between one thing and another we are hoping that 2009 will be a fresh start that will bring us some good luck and positivity for a change. We hope to sell our house and move to a totally new area so that Mr WT can change jobs and be happier work wise. I think the icing on the cake at the end of 2008 is currently a huge mystery water leak under the house that cant be located, its something that will start our 2009 off with and fingers crossed it will be sorted out asap, the house will sell and we can start a new chapter in our life together.

Its been one thing after another after another these past few years and Im sure we are due some good happy times, so thats what we are holding out for. I do hope that those others on here that have had a rough / miserable / traumatic 2008 will also see 2009 in in a peaceful, positive way and that the year will continue to be happy and fruitful. x

Well as we will start the new year off by still not living together, we have to make the most of the time we do spend together..

I am aiming to get a permanent job (contracting at the moment which sucks) and Dr S is aiming to get a job that is better than his current one but near where I work (which may be an issue with the current climate, though I have applied for 12 jobs in the last week - there seem to be plenty of jobs in my field at the moment)

Im going to try and be better financially though it has sort of been forced the past few months with the financial issues around... our bills have gone up but not our wages so we have cut back as much as we can

Im hoping for a better year health wise, if I can get one of the problems formally diagnosed and sort out some treatment it will be a breakthrough for me but even if that doesnt happen I aim to try and sort one of them out myself (possible fibromyalgia / arthritis issue, the other one is sleep related but that could be fibromyalgia related too so Ive heard, so one could sort the other).. Im aiming to start a gentle gym routine going as soon as I can, though Dr S says I should go to pilates - Ive tried it before and got frustrated with it so it may not be the best thing for me

I also hope that all my family are happy and healthy in 2009, 2008 wasnt too bad health wise for the Shoe family and I hope it continues in 2009

Oh Im also 30 in 2009 which sucks as I still think of myself as 20 sometimes but I guess its going to happen any which way so have to lump it - Dr S is 6 years older so that makes me feel a little better

I think I'm going to rekindle the relationship I had in my teens with alcohol. We have barely spent anytime together in the last decade, but I feel we will be great support for each other in the coming year.

Sandie's post applies in so many ways, especially the part in bold.

Personally I don't set NY resolutions as I feel if it's something I want to do, I'll do it there and then, be it on a weekday in the middle of the month at any time of the year, although I think it would be wise to do the same and not get so involved in others' problems.

Sare, from seeing the damage alcohol has done to my brother, please reconsider. It's not the answer in any shape or form, however sh!te life is. It's certainly not a support, or a friend.

?

I'm sorry Peaches. I've felt particularly low in the last 24 hours and whilst I do wonder what will get me through the coming months, I didn't consider what my flippant remark might mean to others here.

I have a few vague plans but have resolved not to make any firm resolutions.

I'd like to do more fun things with the boys at the weekends, especially when it all changes as my first goes to school in September.

I have lots of lots of professional goals - I want to complete my family planning training so I can help my patients by sticking in coils and implants and preventing a few unwanted pregnancies (every little helps and it's nice to be able to feel I can contribute) but from a selfish point of view, I am toying with the idea of starting a Masters in primary care in 2009 or 2010, which I've now realised will satisfy some urges to get more involved in the academic side of my profession.

Moneywise - thank goodness MrRache and I are fairly recession proof, but we'll be tightening our belts like everyone; as Clairy says, it seems wrong to do otherwise.

I'd like to stop worrying about my weight, looks, food, etc.* It's boring and I don't want to waste my life in a fug of self loathing and envy when I could be enjoying being young-ish and healthy-ish. Generally striving towards contentment, I suppose.

*and in that spirit I'ce changed my avatar from a rather cynical Family Guy's Meg, to some Alphonse Mucha art nouveau.

This year I'm not making any resolutions, or even really setting any goals as I so miserably failed to achieve most of the 2008 ones and I can't face re-setting the same ones ?. 2009 will be different as my watchword is going to be "enough". It's not about flogging myself for what I haven't achieved, it's about giving myself credit for what I do and trying to enjoy the journey on the way. More balance, less time sitting in a strip-lit office whining about not being where I really want to be.

That said, I will still be setting physical goals for the year, as if I don't do that, then nothing happens. One endurance event per quarter - I'm off to a flyer for Q1 as I'm doing a triathlon later on this morning ?. Q2 is a half-mara with some friends, Q3 I think will be either a half-iron man trithlon (depending on how today goes!) or some kind of mountain bike event. Q4 dunno yet, but something weird & wonderful no doubt.

Finance wise, I totally agree that the climate makes unneccessary extravagence a bit distasteful. I've paid off my small bit of debt and got a lodger who pays half of my mortgage. I'm really hammering away at savings in case the balloon goes up - I can't imagine that anyone will be unaffected by the recession.