Lifestyle

2020 CHECK-IN

We are officially halfway through 2020 and I imagine if we look back on our goals, our plans, our thoughts on December 31st 2019, no one imagined we would have flown so far off course. But that doesn’t mean we need to completely lose site of ourselves and where we were six months ago. It might just take a matter of adjusting.

Now I completely understand and acknowledge the fact that so many people cannot just ‘adjust’. That their lives have been so completely altered that it isn’t a matter of readjusting goals. I hope that anyone reading this has not experienced loss or change this aggressive, and that they have been able to adapt to whatever changes this has brought them with the support of their friends and families. But I started writing this post with the thought that we have all been in this “new world” for a few months now and it seems like we aren’t going back to hugs and handshakes super soon. People have been working out at home, taking zoom calls, working from home, and while i’m sure no one has perfected it, I think everyone’s found a bit of a groove. Even if it’s a super bumpy and winding groove :-/

I want to chat about where I was mentally six months ago. What was I hoping would come of this year? What was I hoping to accomplish? To be honest I actually laugh when I ask myself that question, because my answer is 180 degrees different from where I am now. I was hoping to get a job for which I was in the middle of interviewing, and looking to settle in our home a little bit in Minneapolis. Now, six months later I am back at square zero with jobs, and in the process of getting settled in a city I had no earthly inclination that I would ever live in. So, yeah, I need to adjust. Did I have the stereotypical health goals? Absolutely. Have I achieved those? Heck no. But am I kicking myself in the butt over it and reverting to old ways or using it as an excuse to take steps backwards? No. While we are very lucky to have a sufficient in-home gym, I did rely on a lot of outside sources for achieving my health and fitness goals that I no longer have access to. So, I’ve had to change course.

Many of you (like a lot of us) may have thought that this would only be a few months and by a certain time this summer things would open up and we would be back to normal. Now that we know that is not the case, I think it’s time to start taking it seriously. Instead of using it as an excuse to not workout, or be okay with eating unhealthily because you’ve got the quarantine blues, let’s whip ourselves back into shape. Literally. Think about how you will feel three months from now if you continue down an unhealthy path? Will you feel better or worse? Will you have dug yourself deeper into a hole that you will have to work 10x harder to climb out of? I think you know the answers to all of those questions.

This mindset applies to every area of life; professional, personal, and health. We just have to take a step back and remember where we were at the end of 2019. Remember what you wanted to accomplish this year, and while you don’t have to apply the same exact goals to the second half of 2020, you can take the modified versions to hold yourself accountable. I’ve seen this saying floating around social media for a weeks now and I feel like it is more applicable now than ever: six months of dedication and focus can put yourself years ahead. I know I’m not quoting it exactly or correctly, but you get the gist. Think about where you could be on day one of 2021 if you applied the ‘dedication and focus’ you know you can to the rest of this year. Sounds much better than the alternative, huh?

**don’t sleep on home workout apps! My favorite are Sweat and Peloton. Both provide amazing workouts and the Peloton is only $12 a month and provides HIIT, yoga, cardio (inside and outside), spin, lifting, etc.

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