OUR BEST AND WORST- NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS, THAT IS!

Is it a waste of time to make a list of resolutions at New Year? Perhaps it’s worth planning to be a better version of yourself, even if your resolve only lasts till mid-January! Here at FAIRLADY, we’ve had our fair share of hits and misses…

Suzy Brokensha:

I resolved for years to give up smoking on New Year’s Day and, as a result, would smoke about 600 cigarettes on New Year’s Eve, wake up the next day feeling absolutely awful … and have ‘one last’ cigarette to cheer me up. In 2005, I gave up on giving up. But somehow smoking gave ME up that year ... I just stopped wanting to do it, I have no idea why. But I’ve never looked back!

Washiefa Larney:

My best resolution ever was to let go and stop fearing the worst. Just to enjoy life and watch my little girl grow.

Liezel Dukes:

I have realised that my New Year’s resolutions are only a to-do list for the first week in January, so I have decided to scrap them! My worst New Year’s resolution is to think that I will ever stick to one.

Kristen Birch:

My 2016 New Year’s resolution was to encourage myself, as an extreme extrovert, to spend and enjoy more time alone. It’s still a struggle not to want people around all the time, but as I’ve learnt to savour the times when my only company is myself, I’ve found I have developed new hobbies and have time to do the things I never used to have time to do.

Liesl Robertson:

A few years back, a friend and I joined the gym close to where we worked, and resolved to peer-pressure each other into working out together at least three times a week. It was a foolproof plan – until she got retrenched literally three days later. Needless to say, I was much less motivated to go to the gym after a long day of work without the workout buddy I’d bargained on. I think I went about four times the whole year – and one of the visits was just to use the showers when the water was out in our block.

Tasneem Larney:

Best resolution ever: To spend more time with family (realistic, memorable and the most fun). I’m also trying to commit more of my time to ‘giving back’ – no matter how small the deed, it always feels great. Worst: To focus on fitness and to grow my own herbs – my motivation dropped faster than my kg’s and my herbs died after two weeks. I’m completely useless!

Cara-Lee Ruditsky:

My best resolution was to take more local long weekends – I didn’t feel as desperately in need of that December holiday!

Pia-Alexa Duarte:

I always love the idea of resolving to spend less time online in the New Year, however, barely five minutes in and I’m already online, posting pointless pics to social media! So I resort to topping up my bubbly and toasting yet another year of attempting to get healthy and in shape instead.

Marli Meyer:

Mine is kind of a best-worst, and not exactly a New Year’s resolution because it was decided three months before Christmas! I was living in Berlin and resolved to run the Berlin Half-marathon (which was taking place in April the following year) with my German best friend and her mom. They’re natural runners and made it sound totally doable. So we committed to doing a 15km run on Christmas Day, through the forest around the Berlin Müggelsee as part of our training. I didn’t think about the fact that it would be snowy, deepin-the-minus, send-your-lungs-into-asthmaticshock cold weather in Berlin at that stage, nor that I am not at all a runner. Nevertheless, we did it, and although I nearly cried after just 3km, it was an amazing once-in-a lifetime experience I’ll never forget. Let’s just say a Christmas lunch has never tasted so good and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as much as I did that day!

Caryn McArthy:

My best New Year’s resolution was to stop making them. I so set myself up to prune the roses, take more time out, be less stressed, be nicer to the neighbour and so on. But what I’ve realised is, the older I get, the fewer demands I should put on myself. I’ve stopped making wish lists – which in turn makes me prune the roses, be less stressed and have the neighbour for dinner because I want to – not because I have too!

Crystal Matthews:

Every year mine sto lose weight, save money and make time for myself. But come end of January, the plans have left the building. So, frankly, I have given up on resolutions and now just take one day at a time!

Anna Rich:

It’s pretty much the same from one year to the next: move more/do 10 000 steps a day… Point is, it the same because I never seem to quite fulfil those good intentions. What’s that definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results? Oh well, insane or not, I’ll be going for that goal again. It probably does produce a slightly better result than if I didn’t hold myself to that standard at all. Hope springs!

Sameena Amien:

After wanting to get into magazines (actually, FAIRLADY!) since what seems like childhood but might have been my very early teens, I finally, in desperation, on New Year’s Eve 2001, took Oprah’s advice and wrote it down – putting it out there, as she’d call it. Well, in June 2002 I quit my job and (a long, sometimes, even for me, unbelievable story) a month later I was subeditor at Kickoff mag, two years later, I got a job at Shape, and another two years on saw me starting my career at my dream mag! Now – about those millions…

Liza van Deventer:

My best New Year’s resolution ever was deciding to run Comrades Marathon. It is ‘the ultimate race’, but against yourself. I never knew how strong I was until I ran that far. You gain so much positive energy, even if e end your goals are literally just about from one lamppost to another. I’m setting the same resolution for 2017!

L’Andre Venter:

Best: To do one thing every week that makes me happy, regardless of everyone else (silly small things!). And to spend less time on social media sites. Worst: To have less sugar and go on more hikes without complaining (a recurring resolution…) and to spend much less money on makeup and clothes. (#epic fail). Roxanne Cloete:

My best New Year`s resolution was in 2015: to spend more time with my family and not be so busy all the time (confession: compulsive busy-ness). I stuck to this decision, and did and do spend quality time with my parents and siblings. My dad passed away a few months back and there’s not a day that goes by that I’m not grateful for that resolution. It was a good New Year’s resolution to have – no regrets!

Kelli Clifton:

My best New Year’s resolutions ever were to take more holidays and local trips, to learn how to say ‘no’ and to always put myself first. It’s such a relief! May it continue into 2017…

Janine Nortjé:

My worst New Year’s resolution: After being single for the first time in many years, I decided I would make a resolution to ‘let down my hair’ and try new things! New adventures, new people, new power liquid in the form of a piña colada … not even five minutes later, I had developed an allergic reaction and exited the bathroom trending a NEW hairstyle decorated with peanuts from my chocolate brownie from 15 minutes earlier, not to mention glossy, vampire eyes. A great look for when you are trying to impress! Needless to say, after casually sitting back at the table and trying to act cool, I was shoved back into the bathroom for operation clean up … and that was the end of the NEW! #neversawthoseguysagain