New Years Resolution

It is almost 2009 and most of us will be making those infamous New Years Resolutions that we seldom, if ever keep, so what will yours be this year? Will you make a resolution to lose weight, give up smoking, get a new job or maybe take a special holiday. Whatever your New Years resolution is how will you ensure you keep it.

My New Years resolution is to buy a motor home and travel around Australia. This is what I have wanted to do for many years and have worked and saved to make it happen, so, fingers crossed, hand on heart, fear stifled and determination fueled, 2009 is the year I am going to make it happen.

This is a huge step for me. You see I am 66 years old and alone. To do this I need to sell up, find the right motor home for me (and pray I don't end up with a lemon) at a price I can afford. It means cutting myself loose from all that is familiar, my friends and my family and striking out on my own, virtually into the unknown. All this at a time when many people are settling comfortably into their nest of family and familiarity.

When I think about this huge adventure I feel a mixture of emotions, not least among them is fear. But I also feel excitment and anticipation but there are so many decisions to be made that at times I feel overwhelmed.

So why aren't I nestling into my comfort zone? Because when I am sitting in a nursing home dribbling and losing control of my bodily functions I don't want to look back and regret I didn't do it when I could. Because every day of our lives is a gift and we need to seize every opportunity and live our dreams.

Remember Carpe Diem? Seize the day? That is what I intend to do. Live it, enjoy it and ring every drop out of every day of my life.

When I keep my New Years Resolution I plan to write a blog and call it The Wandering Star (which is what my motor home will be called) and I want to write about my journey, the places I visit, the people I meet along the way and their stories and about anything else that I feel could be of interest to my readers. When the time comes I hope you will join me on my journey around my beautiful Australia.

May the joy of Christmas fill your life every day of 2009
and bring to you and your family a
year of peace love and fulfillment

Christmas Expectations

So here it is again. Christmas!! The kids are bouncing off the walls, you've still got a mountain of shopping to do and then there is all that food to cook and decorating to do and on and on it goes. Is it any wonder that some people get very depressed at Christmas.

For some people, the pressures and expectations of Christmas push them beyond what they can cope with and they slide into depression. Christmas sadness is very real.

We all want to have a lovely, loving Christmas with our families but often this doesn't happen. The expense, the extra work, the demands all become too much and all we want to do is curl up in a ball and disappear until it is over. Tensions rise and all too often families who are loving and caring all year round find themselves snapping at each other and getting angry and frustrated.

I think the best way to cope with Christmas is to lower our expectations. We are bombarded with what we should be giving, eating, doing and feeling and we feel inadequate. Then of course there are those feel good, everything turns out wonderful in the end movies that make us feel even more inadequate.

Christmas is about being with your family and friends it is not about how much a gift costs or a feast fit for a king so let us not lose sight of that. Do the things you all enjoy doing together. Lower your expectations and raise your enjoyment but most of all teach your children the true meaning of Christmas so they don't grow up feeling let down at Christmas.

Having said all that I wish everyone a truely happy Christmas filled with love and laughter.

How is Your Dental Health

I have always been scared of going to the dentist. Of course I am not alone in that department. Who likes a perfect stranger sticking their fingers and other nasty things in their mouth? You would have to be a bit odd wouldn't you?

I once went for almost two weeks with and abscessed tooth, enduring dreadful toothache rather than endure a few seconds pain at the dentist. Yep, I know, stupid really, but at the time and up until today I didn't realise how stupid and dangerous my actions were.

Today I visited the Daytona Daily News site and the first thing that jumped off the page at me was 12-year-old Deamonte Driver of Maryland died last year following an untreated toothache. This article entitled Will a Child's Death Change Dental Policy made me realise the risks we are all taking when we avoid going to the dentist. It also made me realise that some people, especially disadvantaged children in some US states, are unable to access the dental care that is vital to their health due to the short comings in the state-federal health insurance program that only funds around 50% of what dentists charge.

If you would like to read this article you will find it at Daytona Daily News. I am sure it will open your eyes to how hard some people in our affluent societies are really doing it.

World AIDS Day

December 1st was world AIDS day and I guess most people did not even give it a thought. I think the 33 million people world wide who are living with HIV/AIDS (AIDS.Gov) may have thought about it and felt deep regret that they had not taken precautions before it was too late.

I have written articles about the research regarding circumcision and aids in the past. If you would like to read then go to benefits of circumcision and to snip or not to snip.

When AIDS was first diagnosed we were bombarded with advertising and I still shudder when I remember the grim reaper ads. They would scare anyone into abstinence. Now we never hear anything about the explosion of this disease.

As parents it is vital that we teach out children about safe sex. Most young people today know about AIDS but what they don't think about is that it cannot be cured. If you want to educate your child about HIV/AIDS but don't know where to start then go to AIDS.Gov and go through the information there with your children. Perhaps it will save their life.