New Year's Resolutions – love them or loathe them, you just can’t escape them.

This year the Dusanj family was together for Christmas and the New Year celebrations– yes, ALL six siblings, partners and mother hen. It was hectic family fun that we're still recovering from. We took gluttony to another level and who knew playing 'Taboo' could be so competitive! But I'll save that story for another time.

Mummy Dusanj decided we were going to write a list of all that we were grateful for in 2016 and there was plenty of joyful activity this year. Two big family weddings in the spans of six months: one in India the other in Italy. Our gratitude list was personal and for us to reflect on and not necessarily share, it concluded with another list of all that we hoped to continue to do or achieve in 2017. Yes, that’s new year’s resolutions in disguise! A spin version.

As Mummy Dusanj cheerfully asked us one-by-one what we hoped for 2017, her next question was clever, ‘how do I know you are achieving your goal? Do tell me whenever you have a result, when you start, do keep me updated WhatsApp me.' She had decided she was going to be our monitor, well, more like the buddy we needed to nudge us along. We all burst into garrulous laughter when she said, 'WhatsApp me' including herself. But seeing her desire for us to fulfil our goals and truly live our lives was an incredibly touching moment.

My resolution was to write more, so here I am, activating my blog. Hopefully it’ll be a place full of my mind’s ramblings, a record of sorts, of my thoughts, observations and experiences. Whatever I write will always be honest and hopefully somewhat interesting. I’m terrified by the process and I’m not sure if this exercise is pure self indulgence or real creative expression but either way, I promised Mummy Dusanj I will write, so here goes! Watch out 2017!