So I had the surf lesson. I broke one of my fingers. It was a tiny fracture, barely visible and not in need of treatment so I was relieved. It was however perfect for showing off, "oh this? I did it surfing." I only managed to milk a couple of days of sympathy and attention for it but I was happy - I'd gone out there and done something I'd wanted to do for ages, and despite the injury I'd enjoyed it. I've actually had a second lesson. Progress was not as fast as I would have liked, but it was definitely there. My teacher is very good at making sure I know the basics inside out before letting me try something new and I have another lesson planned for this week. It gives me something new to try my hand at and is a welcome change from the things I do at work. I'm also pleased to know that I'm sticking with something. I just wish I'd decided to take these lessons in summer.

I've also been making progress on the massive list of ‘little things' to do. You know, the really small, almost insignificant things that you keep meaning to do but never get round to till there's at least a million of them all conspiring to make you feel like a failure. It's the really little things I'm talking about, the ones that would take literally two seconds to do; like throwing away the old toothpaste tube, throwing away supermarket receipts for food you ate two weeks ago, that kind of thing. Maybe it's just me who does this. It has been a problem for me in the past. My new year's resolution has been ‘do it now' on more than one occasion. Anyway, I've made headway into clearing the backlog and have also been careful not to add to the list. The house is a much nicer, calming place to come home to because of it.

I need to have more fun. The anxiety and general stress that I was feeling at the beginning of the year is slowly creeping back in. I'm not sleeping as well either. I'm countering some of this by walking in the evenings to calm my mind and tire my body before sleep, and obviously the surfing helps a lot, but I need more fun, every day. So I bought myself guitar hero. It may have been designed with adolescent boys in mind but I love it, and it was on special offer so I got a bargain. I've also been saying ‘yes' more often instead of stressing about the things that I feel I should be doing instead. Last night I met up with a friend for coffee despite having a really long shift today, and I'm in a much better frame of mind because of it. More fun. Now! I am only 30 after all.