I’m sitting at my work desk (aka kitchen table), looking out at another wet Wexford day. The grass in my garden is about 15 centimetres high – I should have cut the lawn in October but I had told myself that ‘I’d do it next week’ and of course next week came and went with not a blade of grass put in danger. It’s been so damp since then that I’ve had no opportunity to do anything (or so I tell myself). It’ll have to wait until Spring.

The rain is beating mercilessly on the Velux window above my head; it’s been like this all day. I feel like the writer Raymond Carver did –

Woke up this morning with

a terrific urge to lie in bed all day

and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.

And gave over. Put myself entirely

In the keep of this rainy morning.

It would have been easy to surrender to the elements today. I have a pile of stuff I need to read and beneath the duvet seems as good a place as any to get a start. But I know how that would go – 20 minutes reading, followed by a quick doze and then 3 hours’ deep coma; wake up for lunch; realise I’m still in my pyjamas; cold shower to shock myself into life; dress; eat; organise my notes; make a list of To-Do’s; realise I’m 5 minutes late for picking up my youngest from school; commit various road traffic violations on way to collect him; stop in for treats as it’s Doughnut Friday (a weekly festival he invented – often also occurs on a Monday); make our way back home; put dogs out for de-widdling in garden; spend 10 minutes searching for dogs in long grass; head back out to collect son number 2; make way back home again; start dinner preparation (turn on oven); put away organised notes, being careful not to look at To-Do list.

As I say, taking this path would have been easy.  But this week marks the first week of December, and December is the month in which my colleagues and I have decided to put Positive Attitude at the forefront of our thinking. I felt that a duvet day might not quite be in the right spirit, so instead, I took the road less travelled by (at least by me).  I pulled myself out of my warm bed and started my day.  And I feel pretty good about it – I’ve got things done, and it’s not yet lunchtime! I know from experience that it’s easy to ‘settle’, but sometimes taking action is the only real step you need to turn Do-Not Friday into Do-It Friday (weak attempt at word-play humour – apologies!).

LIFT’s theme for December is Positive Attitude. Why not join us in focusing particularly on Positive Attitude this month? Also, why not take a look back at David’s Diary from May this year, where he looks at his own journey towards positivity.