New Year Resolutions? Not this year, thanks.
Monday, the 2nd of January. A day when our hangovers from New Years Eve have almost subsided, and we’re left a feeling little bit jaded, tired and sad — because our 9-5 lives are about to start again. Today is a day when many of us think about what we want to achieve for the upcoming year, and set goals (or resolutions, or whatever other term you’d like to wrap it up in). Whatever word is used to describe 2017’s resolutions, though, it doesn’t detract from the truth that the majority of us will never stick to them. So this year, rather than creating year-long resolutions, I’m going to set weekly goals, or simply tell myself ‘I must do this today.’ It can be as simple as ‘I must get 9 hours sleep tonight’, or ‘Today I’m going to drink coffee without sugar’. There’s nothing wrong with year-long resolutions — fair play to everyone doing that, powering through and hell-bent on sticking to them — but stats do suggest that they just don’t work. For me, it’s because we feel that a resolution has to be a major change in our lives,. Take the classics, quitting smoking or signing up to the gym. These are just too bold and unrealistic, and therefore fail. But what if you were to set realistic goals throughout the year, which all added up go some way towards reaching your overall resolution?
There are a few things that I would really love to achieve this year, mainly focusing around travelling and keeping fit! Obviously the travelling one is pretty self-explanatory; I would really love to tick off another few countries that I’ve never been to, and visit more places around the UK. My goal for this week is to book a flight for a short break to go away in January – I’m thinking maybe Dubai. I’ve been there a few times before, but for a short break with guaranteed sunshine I think it’s probably a good shout. 2016 has been a year of Deliveroo, burgers, drinking and ad-hoc fitness. And although I’m still in reasonable shape, I’m nowhere near my fitness heights of a few years ago. So this year I’m going to get myself in great shape, mainly for all the beaches that I’m going to visit! To start achieving my fitness heights, my goal this week is to setup my new MyZone MZ3 fitness monitor, and start tracking my workouts to record my progress and set further fitness goals. Finally my motto for the year is to start focusing on the things that are great in life — and forgetting those that are toxic and pointless.
Speaking of resolutions, I’ve been dying to wear my new pair of Redchurch sneakers from Donhall & Bell — and I’ve finally managed to style an outfit and show them off to you! Donhall & Bell are renowned for their incredible slippers, and they’ve recently designed and launched their new sneaker collection which incorporates many of the signature luxurious touches that the brand stands for. This pair are the Redchurch Black, which retail at £190. What you get for that is expertly designed and crafted footwear made from 35% synthetic baby calf hair and 65% leather. The toe piece of the shoe is in burnished leather, the laces are waxed and the top lace hole features Donhall & Bell’s signature ‘D’ ornament. Thanks to the the quality tan leather and adding used in the inner sole, the Redchurch is soft enough to wear without socks; I’ve styled them with Topman jeans and a couple of pieces from Zara, all from their AW16 collections.
Carl Thompson wears Donhall & Bell’s Redchurch Sneaker in black.