The adjustment after Christmas is the worst! You still find
yourself humming Christmas songs, you mourn the last mince pie, the Christmas
jumper gets put away for another year (just as it’s actually getting cold
enough to warrant wearing it…).
This time of year always makes us look back and take
stock of the last 12 months. If someone asked me to describe 2014 in one word,
my initial reaction would be “exhaustion”. As years go this has been a hard one. But for all the tough times I've had there have been many points of the other extreme. I may have dealt with severe anaemia
and B12 deficiencies; some days I may have lacked the ability to understand the point of getting out of bed; I may have spent times eating 400kcal a day and others
stuffing so much food in my stomach it felt like I would explode; I may have
felt anxious 24/7 for weeks; work may have pushed me beyond my limits; and I may
have realised I don’t even know who I am. But I’ve also travelled to
places I could never have dreamed of; moved in with someone I love beyond
words; started getting help with my eating; restarted appreciating life’s little moments; readjusted my view of what’s important in life; got promoted; and spent time
with people who matter. Those amazing experiences far outweigh those tough times, and the struggles made me appreciate those good times even more.
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| Bali |
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| Singapore |
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| Buckingham Palace at the Garden Party with my family |
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| The Lake District with all my favourite people - my family and my better half |
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| New flat moving in with the bf (and the best slippers ever!) |
Last January I set a whole heap of aims for the year, most of which I didn't achieve. I never ran a half marathon. In fact I didn’t participate in any of the 5 running
events I promised myself I'd do. I didn’t overcome my binging (though I have improved so much through the therapy - I think I was being
overoptimistic thinking I’d solve it overnight!). And
when I set these goals I wasn't expecting to be signed off work for a month, be on iron
tablets for the rest of year, and start therapy for my eating problems.
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| My last iron tablet a couple of days ago :) |
I did achieve a few of my goals though: I discovered yoga (how did I survive so long without it?!) and
increased my body strength, and I did track more of my runs using my garmin (but not at the times
where I just needed to get out and stretch my legs without thinking about time
or pace). I’m also pretty good at eating clean…but I do know that I can have
treats when I want…hello 80/20. And all this shows the most important thing –
how much more balanced I have become. I'm improving my health, but not letting it take over my life.
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| Run with a hug from a muddy dog |
So this year I have learnt so much about
health and fitness, and am beginning the journey of learning who I am as a person. I’m so
excited to start 2015 with a clean slate of health and fitness and take
baby steps to who I’ll be this time next year.
So what goals am I making for 2015? Just the one: maintain balance. I'll be explaining how I'm going to do this in my next blog post, but in the mean time, I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!
E x
