Friday marked the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. It got me thinking about the calendar and how far into 2019 we actually were. It feels like it’s only March outside, but today actually marks the 26th week of 2019. Can you believe it? After this week we will be officially half way through 2019. Are you wondering where the time has gone or are you right on track? Where are you? Have you checked in with yourself? Are you half way to your goal? Did you get hung up somewhere along the way while we were having the coldest, wettest winter and spring that ever existed?
I have to say that this is the first year since my marathon training days that I feel like I am still on track. Usually by this time I have either met my goal of running a half marathon ( I usually run the Slacker which happened this past weekend) and I am resting on my laurels or I ate one too many donuts and packed it in somewhere back in March. This year has been different for me. Sure, I have a lot of big moments happening like vacations, graduations and weddings that are forcing me to stay on my game, but it’s more than that. This year, I set some real, solid intentions about my health and wellness. They weren’t just lofty, vague goals like, “get fit” or “workout.” They were specific goals like, “work out in the weight room 4 times/week, walk 4-5 times/week, add 20-30 minutes of running in 3 times/week and CLEAN eating ( limit the simple carbs and sugar). I haven’t been perfect by a long shot, but when you set clear, specific goals it’s easy to know that shoveling pizza and ice cream in your mouth is not part of the plan. If I choose to eat that way I am making a choice. In the past when I have made goals, outside of running a specific race, I haven’t always been specific about other parts of my life so those areas often went by the wayside.
While I was definitely a little sad that I wasn’t there running I didn’t beat myself up about it because it wasn’t one of my goals this year. I knew back in January that I wasn’t ready to start training for a race. Again, intentions are the key.
So where are you on week 26 of this year? Are you on track? Please tell me you haven’t packed your bags and you are sitting on the curb waiting for 2020 to arrive? It’s not too late to start again even if you did eat one too many donuts or miss more workouts than you can count. Most of us would feel pretty successful if we said we worked out for 6 straight months.
You still can.
Take this week, the next 7 days, and set some intentions. Get out your journal and start writing about what you are actually willing to do. Don’t say you are going to run 30 minutes if you can’t run two. Set an intention of walking and running for 30 minutes, working up to a full 30 minutes. If you want to eat clean, spell out what you are going to eat for each meal and what you are NOT going to eat. If you want to drink more water, write down how many ounces/day you intend to drink.
It doesn’t just need to be about our health either. If you started 2019 wanting to learn how to swim, use your camera or knit more, then call and set up a time to take your lessons, go get the book or buy the yarn. As Nike says, JUST DO IT!
Next Monday is the start of week 27, the official start of the second half of the year. It also happens to be a Monday for those of you who like to start fresh on Mondays AND it’s also July 1st. It really couldn’t be a better time to start again.
Lowi & G 