"New Year"

​New goals, new resolutions, new me! The clock had yet to strike midnight when my Facebook feed was filled with everyone's updates highlighting the chance of a fresh new start in 2019. I admit it - I rolled my eyes a little.

Years ago I would have had posted the same thing. In fact, I used to have a motto for every year - Debt Free '03, Survive '05. And those mottos really helped me get through the year and achieve my goals. (Coincidentally, 2004 was my first year of law school so you can see where I was going with those mottos!) My whole life has been about achieving goals and planning for the next stage. But this year I just want to be. No big goals. No new life plans. No particularly difficult effort towards anything notable. 

By now you're probably thinking - this is a 6FIT spokesperson!?!?! For the New Years session? Womp, womp. But hear me out. 

Sometime around the time I hit 37 and had my second child, I set a big goal: Fabulous at 40. I wanted a new career, a new personal style, and a renewed commitment to being incredibly fit. Like "is she 30 or 40? fit". 

Then 2017 happened. My beloved grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and I lost her in 14 days. My perfect little baby had brain surgery and was diagnosed with a second rare genetic disorder. Work got bananas and I was promoted to a high level position. Yet, I was grieving, exhausted, and stressed out. I ended up in a walk-in clinic with high blood pressure, started losing my formerly fabulous hair, and gained more weight than I ever had before (pregnancy aside). I looked and felt 5 years older in a span of 5 months. So much for being Fabulous at 40!

Then a "new year" comes along and I declare 2018 will "better". Of course, my husband then receives a once in a lifetime job offer that would allow us to move close to my hometown and extended family. So he accepts the job with the caveat that we will not move until my retirement pension vests...in 2020....when I turn 41. So here I am. At the same job. For two more years. But I am supposed to find a new career at 40! The year felt like it dragged on. 

Why did I feel this way? Why do we feel the need to make changes at a certain age? Why do we feel the need to turn a new leaf when the year "begins"? And why do we feel disappointed when things don't work out as planned? Life happens when it happens. Death comes when we do not expect it. New opportunities do not wait for the "perfect" time.

Look, I am not discouraging anyone from setting goals or using the "new" year to make big changes. You do you. But I am saying that if you don't actually make those changes or you end up somewhere you never imagined you would be, it is okay. Maybe you bail on 6FIT halfway through like I had to when my daughter had surgery. Maybe you win the whole damn thing because you're on fire right now. Whatever you do, the 6FIT community is here to support you.

So take this 6FIT as a time to focus on you but if it all gets derailed, it's fine. There will be another 6FIT later this year. A new month is just around the corner. A new day is a few hours away. Every moment is a chance to be a new, better you - just like every moment is a chance to just keep being the amazing person you are right now.