One month ago I wrote a post all about my new year’s resolutions for 2016, and I was proud to say I had achieved all of them to some extent, with the exception of buying a dog.

Well, that didn’t happen, nor will it for a while, tragically, as it’s not practical right now.

I was thinking about new year’s resolutions today, and why we don’t keep them a lot of the time.

I may be wrong, but in my case it’s because I saw them as something that ran from January to December, a fad, something I said I would do because everyone else was making resolutions. They were never that meaningful.

As such, I did exactly this and starting before Christmas. I was so excited for the next year that I didn’t want to wait.

I have so many things I want to achieve in 2017.

I have a long road ahead of me to build my knee back up to a 120kg deadlifting, 85kg squatting hinge after injuring it on Kilimanjaro, and it won’t be easy. I feel optimistic though as I can now get out hiking with minimal pain!

I have 3 months of physio and recovery, started in December, with a knee review in March that will decide if the physio I’ve done will be enough. I’ve already started cycling (prescribed!)

​I wasn’t going to wait until January and miss out on valuable time working towards achieving my goals.

I think this one will probably take up a lot of the year, and I’m not bothering to say ‘I’m going to get fit‘ because let’s be honest, with daily training and whatnot to help strengthen my knee, it’ll happen anyway.

Obviously without No.1, this will not happen.

Kilimanjaro filled me with even more willingness to be away from it all, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone to achieve a goal. You also can’t beat the views when you reach the top, so even if my knee won’t allow me to trek to Everest Base Camp this year, you can bet I’ll be making the most of my physio to get me wherever I can.

More realistically, I’m hoping to pick up rock climbing as a new hobby this year – something I’ve always wanted to do. Just need to get over the whole fear of falling thing!

Don’t think this one needs much explaining to be honest.

I bought my flat over a year ago and whilst it’s my baby, I keep spending money on other things. I want to change the carpets or, alternatively, save to pay off a chunk of my mortgage.

​Both work.

At the moment, I’m working, sometimes more than I should be, then blogging, before working out… whilst trying to maintain some kind of life.

So when it gets to the weekend all I want to do is curl up in my duvet as I’m mentally drained and physically exhausted.

I haven’t seen some of my close friends in months, despite talking to them all the time.
​This needs to change and I need to address my work/life balance a lot more and get myself out into the open air!

I’ve always loved the outdoors. Country walks as a child, Duke of Edinburgh and Ten Tors as a teen all filled me with a need to be outside, to get fresh air and also exercise in the beautiful scenery the UK is filled with!

This year I’ve been given a very exciting opportunity, which will become apparent shortly, and so I intend to be outdoors as much as possible, and not just on Dartmoor and in the New Forest. I have never been walking in Scotland, so I’ll be heading back to my roots, as it were, as much as I can!

​I have a huge Scotland list of places to walk and things to do. I may try and get to Northern Ireland too!