Dry January. Exercise January. Veganuary.

How many have, after the excesses of the festive period, kicked off 2017 with a detox? Taken up new forms of exercise maybe, or decided to change unhealthy eating habits? Plenty, I would imagine.

Nothing wrong with that; I fully laud those prepared to make changes to live happier, healthier lives. My only concern is that these new regimes are a little too extreme, too ascetic to lead to lasting change.

Why cut alcohol completely out of your life for one month, if on February 1st it comes back with a vengeance ? Why fork out for gym membership, getting put through your paces by some quasi-sadistic personal trainer, if you’re going to throw in the towel a few months down the line?

Why not instead make small, incremental changes – ones that can last? Find the balance. Exercise yes, but don’t bust a gut five days a week in a sweaty mirrored room with a bunch of poseurs.

Cut down on alcohol, but don’t completely cut it out. Great wine (not to mention ale and spirits) will always be one of life’s little pleasures.

Too much of anything can be deleterious. Yet also too little. For Paracelsus, a 16th century Swiss physician, philosopher, astrologer and founding father of toxicology (amazing how many strings people used to have to their bow), “all things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose that makes a thing poisonous.”

These words ring as true today as they did half a millennium ago. We know that a glass of red wine a day is beneficial. Two bottles maybe not so much. Running regularly will do wonders for your cardiovascular health. Run too many marathons and you may end up doing yourself long-term damage ( i have always maintained a healthy, and to my mind entirely rational scepticism of any race in which the founder, upon completing the distance, promptly died of exhaustion).

Balance, therefore, is everything.

What, however, does this mean on a practical level? To me it means eating healthily, exercising regularly, sleeping well and the right amount, meditating often and exploring new possibilities. It means nourishing the body, whilst not forgetting about the soul and mind.

Nurturing not only our physical wellbeing but also our spiritual. Pushing ourselves to take on new challenges, whilst also acknowledging that to abandon all the little things that make us happy is not a path to long-term stability and happiness.

Getting out of one’s comfort zone whilst still remaining comfortable, as paradoxical as that may sound, has to be the right path. So many of us sign up for retreats at this time of year, determined to make lasting changes to our lifestyle.

Yet why can’t you have delicious, hearty food whilst also practicing yoga and mindfulness? Why put yourself through a 6 hour hike or bike ride, only to be greeted by a kale wrap and wheatgrass smoothie at the end?

Why does connecting deeply with your surroundings and with those around you mean you can’t also appreciate a glass of wine at the end of the day?

Enough of the detox bootcamps and extreme retreats. It doesn’t have to have be this way. Challenging yourself needn’t be so challenging.

I firmly believe that you can have all of the benefits of a world class retreat – stunning location, wonderful yoga and mindfulness, a deep connection with the place you are in and those you are with – whilst also appreciating award-winning wines and exquisite local food. Comfortable challenges.

To walk the middle path is the surest route to contentment.

Balance, you see, really is everything.