DAY 1

My name is Lee Hannah and I’m in a rut. The most exciting thing that’s happened to me in the past year was running over a pedestrian – and that wasn’t exciting in a good way. Neither was the massive hangover from all the medicinal whiskey I had to take in order to calm my nerves, nor the ding in my bonnet that serves as a constant reminder of what a rubbish driver I am.

Yesterday somebody asked me what I’d been up to – just a casual question of the kind asked a million times every day by a million different people. My answer? ‘It’s still Groundhog day.’ That was it. End of conversation. What does that make me? The world’s most boring suburban housewife or just one of a billion men and women plodding through life one unremarkable day at a time?

My mother and I went to see Julie & Julia last week. We were so inspired that we went straight from the theatre to the library in search of a French cook book. The Julia Child cook book had 47 holds on it. Tres surprise.

So we took what was left, bought some bubbly and cooked chicken in Muscat with parmesan pureed potatoes and asparagus braised in butter. We basked in the glow of doing something a little out of the ordinary and vowed to do it more often.

This got me thinking. Why is it so long between the tiny adventures in my life? Why don’t I break out of my comfort zone more often?

When domestic bliss is domestic blah and I’m wondering for the hundredth time when, for God’s sake, am I going to get off my bum and learn to play the guitar the answer I give myself is: When the kids leave home. Translation: In 15 year’s time when I’ve probably lost the inclination to do anything except play Bridge and bake cookies.

Most of us have seen stories like Jim Carrey’s ‘Yes Man’, or ‘Julie & Julia’. My question is: what if it’s true? Could I change my entire life by changing just one aspect of it?

It’s a frightening thought. I mean, what would I change? I love cooking but there’s no way I’d burn my way through a massive cook book. And saying ‘yes’ to everything? Well, people would first have to ask me a question and quite frankly, I don’t socialise much. After so many years at home with the kids I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten how to hold up my end of a conversation with anyone but a Wiggle.

And then it came to me. It doesn’t have to be just one thing – it could be anything. The options are endless … I could go abseiling. Get a Brazilian. Eat chicken feet at my local Chinese restaurant. Lose the 15 kilos I put on after my last baby.

What’s stopping me? The answer is nothing.

So here’s the challenge: do one different thing every day. Just one. It could be huge or it could be small. It could be on-going or it could be a one-off. The point is IT WILL BE DIFFERENT.

My first task? Exercise.

As the world is my witness, I’m going to get off my pasty butt and exercise every single day, starting today.

And tomorrow? Probably not the chicken feet, but I’ll be sure to let you know.