Are you sick and tired of New Year's resolutions and all of their subsequent pressure and wasted energy?

Allow me to share with you a story...

As a New Year dawned on 2009, I walked down to the beach in the early morning, alone. I sat and watched as the waves rolled in and felt really sad. I'd hoped for an amazing end to the previous year (didn't happen) and a powerful start to the new one. Failed on both accounts. I wasn't in the best place and instead of happiness, I felt a surging amount of pressure on my shoulders about how I should be feeling and living, about what I should be doing; today and every other day.

The New Year has a way of kicking you down like that doesn't it? You know how the script goes...

• Talk amongst loved ones ad-nauseum about NYE plans coaxed out to inspire celebratory feelings and which will inevitably fall well below high expectations
• Set ridiculous resolutions also talked about ad-nauseum with (...anyone who will listen at this stage)
• Fail resolutions by January 2nd and feel miserable about oneself
• Consume bodyweight in chocolate and ice-cream to feel better (reference Bridget Jones Diary)
• Forget terror involved and repeat the following year

Instead of this delightful sequence of events, how about trying another way this year? Besides, what on Earth do you have to lose? Just as I did in 2009, what you could very well walk into is a seriously fabulous life where resolutions are not a part of the conversation because life is that good.

New Year's Resolutions have one commonality.

They are the clear and visible steps to the way that we want to live.

So I'm suggesting that instead of setting ourselves us for inevitable failure and heartbreak, we harness this positive power and identify the life we want for ourselves.

Resolution #1 - Lose 10kg 

This isn't how you want to live your life though perhaps feeling healthy, glowing and fabulous is so instead how about this....

New plan....

Eat nourishing foods that I enjoy.

Resolution #2 - Own [insert dream material possession here]

This isn't how your dream life appears around you however having freedom and flexibility may be.

New plan....

Do what I love, work my butt off and create financial freedom.

Skinny and rich don't make a life, neither does status or a title whether that be cleaner, CEO or wife. Carving out the life that you want for yourself, step-by-step, with full gusto and being in your life; the one that's happening right now; is what dreams are made of.

So instead of resolutions inspired by self-loathing, how about being kind to yourself. Less drastic change and more growth and organic development. Focus on the how and act to live the life that you want now.

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Since 2009, I've come to really love this time of year. A time for reflection on what has been, what is to come and most of all feeling gratitude for all that is. I also made a deal to spend New Year's away experiencing other countries and for 4 magical years, this was precisely how I bid farewell to one year and welcomed in another. It's what I worked towards and created all for myself - it freakin' rocked and I'm planning for this to continue in 2015 and beyond.

In 2015 I will turn 30.

I will celebrate the first year of my marriage and business.

Goals will be achieved (and mistakes made).

Travel will occur.

Life will happen.

As I have come to do; and with just one day of 2014 remaining; I've been reflecting on all of the above. From this, there have been a few common themes that I thought may be helpful to share with you.

Acceptance // Joy // Fear // Excitement

This time last year was an entirely different ball game and I remember feeling like I was never going to get "there." Now not only do I feel as if I've moved far beyond any goal post that I set for myself though I know that "there" is in fact a self-imposed illusion and a barrier at that.

The joy and acceptance that I feel for where I'm at is seriously fabulous and something that I'm so grateful for.

I never knew that I could work so hard and so much, that even when my eyes were hanging out of my head, I kept on. Despite the fears and the challenges, I launched work that I am oh-so-proud of, with a tiny budget and heck of a lot of love! I started to see the wheels spinning and what was really possible.

2014 has been the biggest of my life so far and for a while there the balance in my life was way off. I was all work and when work is like play, things can get tricky because there is more than that and I needed a reminder. I put into practice what I talk about, that health & wellbeing is #1 and when it trips, so do you.

I have experienced both fear and excitement at what's next. With a significant birthday to come in 2015, there's been a fair few instances of should-ing and so I decided to set myself a tangible goal to focus on instead - to spend my 30th birthday working in and travelling to a fabulously exotic location... Morocco is currently on top of that list...

There's a whole heap of things that I want for myself though none of them are hard and fast rules and that's what I hope to impart to you. There's no deadline and no inflexible, unrealistic and pressure-filled ideas going on so looking like a Victoria's Secret model, becoming a billionaire and going to space are not on the list.

Instead what I'm currently saying to myself is that I'd like to continue my health & wellbeing journey; to further my own yoga practice and become more open (quite literally through my mega-tight hips!), to eat more organic produce and become ever-increasingly aware and aligned with my body and its' needs through movement and nourishment.

By this time next year, I plan to be working full-time in my own business and on my own dreams, dedicating every thought, recipe and photograph to your health journey. Developing life-changing and empowering programs for you and your life. Creating and collaborating with people that light up my life.

I want to spend 2015 not so much looking ahead or behind though rather being there and present, each step of the way. For better of for worse, I'm in it and I'm in it with so much love.

How about you?

Wishing you a safe and fabulous New Year! Sending love and health your way and I can not wait to see you bright and fresh in 2015