Every year as I approach the end of February I get that mildly sinking feeling that comes from recognising that perhaps the grand resolutions I made may not be panning out quite as successfully as anticipated in the alcohol-fuelled daze of January 1. Perhaps you too know this feeling as you recognise that certain undertakings made so brightly on that first day of the new year might still be firmly lodged on the to-do list around February 29. I’m not alone. Apparently research shows that more than half of the resolutions made, fail. To break this cycle of despond I decided that this year I should rather reset as opposed to resolve. How, you ask? By starting with the basics.

First up I’m fixing my breathing. Yes, yes,  I know I’m doing it already, just like every other person who’s still, so to speak, breathing. But a panicked visit to the dentist in December to address a sensitive incisor which I feared might portend a dodgy gap-toothed smile — and not of the sultry Georgia May Jagger variety — alerted me to a bigger problem. Apparently I was breathing all wrong and this was why the front tooth felt so tender and sensitive to cold and hot liquids, or even a spot of air. I was the worst kind of breather possible — a mouth breather...