It’s the New Year. Christmas is over. School is back in session. Decorations are down, family members chased away and the few last lingering morsels of turkey abandoned and discarded. It’s 2009 and many of us will be approaching the New Year with high hopes for positive change in our lives. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for many of us and we’re feeling, well, a bit reticent.

Despite emerging from the pomp and ceremony of Christmas’ pre-prescribed dinner formats and diplomatic gift exchanges, many of us will now be feeling that we have entered another stage of our annual routines: that of failed resolution. The BBC website tells us that only one in ten of us will succeed in our efforts to pack in the cigs, drop down a dress size or cut back on the pale ales. It’s a sobering thought in a month already consigned to disconsolate sobriety, but it seems that the reason many of us can’t succeed is because we frequently bite off far more than we can chew.

There is something very appealing about the idea of a clean slate. It’s what the comedian Eddie Izzard might refer to as the ‘Etch A Sketch’ solution to life. Settling into our works drink do, munching through Boxing Day’s 15^th Quality Street or slotting that final pound coin into the cigarette machine, its easy to imagine that, come the New Year, we start again from scratch, armed with gym subscriptions, well organised exercise plans, detox potions, cleansing lotions and the redeeming fire of absolute abstinence from the sinful misdemeanours of our previous existences. We imagine that the challenge of such a radical break from our yuletide behaviour will also act as our inspiration. The clinical precision of our new routines and the dramatic fissure of lifestyles is an important part of the appeal. But most importantly, the prospect of such healthy living ensures that the weeks of utter decadence on the run up to Christmas all the more deliciously guilt-free. In January, we will live the life of Saint Peter of Sebaste; until then, we might as well party like Saint Peter of Docherty.

I guess it’s up to us to ensure we personally can count ourselves amongst the smug, slim, abstemious tithe that begins February a more contented person: talking loudly in the staff room about the nutritional benefit of blueberries, parading down the High Street flaunting those jeans we haven’t worn since 1997 and sanctimoniously tutting whenever an ex-comrade in wintry nicotine indulgence insists on the need for a sly cig at lunch break. A key element to this is to set manageable goals.

It is a good idea to approach your wellbeing from an all-inclusive perspective: it’s no good relying on cigarettes to keep your weight down, for example, and your health will improve much faster if you combine a healthy diet with exercise. Nevertheless, don’t expect to make radical changes to every aspect of your life and be able to maintain them indefinitely. You are human and, whilst our natural weaknesses for unhealthy food or inclinations towards lethargy can be overcome, by trying to revolutionise our lives overnight we can easily set ourselves up for failure. It’s better to set manageable goals, such as exercising regularly or cutting out fizzy drinks, and succeed than strive for the unobtainable, slip up and surrender all efforts through utter frustration.

The support of others can also dramatically help your chances of keeping resolutions. As well as friends and family, we are of course here to support teachers. Via our telephone and internet-based services we don’t just help teachers who are in financial trouble or experiencing dramatic problems in the classroom, but can provide advice or point teachers in the right direction for support on just about any area of their lives. The New Year may be a perfect opportunity for you to try one of our online coaching programmes and receive regular, personalised coaching from a qualified professional via email; anonymously if you choose. Altogether, we might not be able to come round and hide your Bensons or Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, but by getting in touch I hope Teacher Support Network can not only wish you a Happy New Year, but also help you live one.