Onward We March

…aaaand another year has passed. It’s almost disgusting how fast time goes by anymore. My youth is slowly slipping through my grasp, I FEEL IT! What’s funny is that I sit at my desk day in and day out watching the clock, praying for quitting time to come around. Then here I am, complaining about how time goes too fast. How badly do I want to keep my youth in choke hold? Not badly enough to tolerate slower than molasses work days…I guess I’ll just accept the aging thing. Either way, another New Year is here. Cue the clichés: “out with the old and in with the new”; “out with the bad and in with the good”  [Well, actually, 2013 was quite a fab year for me, if I do say so myself,(Marriage, nationwide travel, new friends and some milestones in the gym…can’t beat that, right?)] so more like “out with the AWESOME in with the TOTALLY EPIC!”  That’s the thing about me…I am an optimist (meh, 75% of the time). Combine that with being self-competitive and you better believe I’m gonna make DAMN SURE it’s the best year yet! Plus, the bar is set pretty high already when you greet the stroke of midnight like this…

(CrossFitters at a house party with a home gym…you have to expect some working out to occur…but this was a little extra redic…)

So Hey, 2014, nice to meet you, let’s get it on!

If you live and breathe by my Facebook updates (why wouldn’t you?!) , you’ll probably recall the status I posted shortly after midnight on 1/1/2014. It read something to the effect of “we don’t need a new calendar year to rock life”…and I absolutely mean it! Why do we need a new week, month, year, etc. to make a change in our lives?

And then there is that what seems like mandatory declaration of what we are going to do or attempt to do via social media. Plus, the follow up statuses keeping us posted on how well we are or are not adhering to our “resolution”….kill me. Just kill me now!  Stop clogging up my news feed, people! Not that I’m not supportive of people wanting to make positive changes in their lives…I just don’t understand the process surrounding it. Why the cliché ‘New Year’ effort? Why the constant talking about it? I feel like it’s just too much pressure to put on a person. Change is hard enough as it is…don’t put so much “absolute” energy out in your atmosphere. Baby steps to moderate, manageable changes over time is going to serve you so much better in the long run. The fact that they are all surrounding the subject of weight loss and fitness really jerks my chain, too. People depriving themselves and setting huge expectations….blah, STRESS! Like I said, I’m all about self-improvement, but it’s all in how you go about it. The point is to end up happier and able to enjoy life more, so please keep that in mind and don’t torture yourself into bitterness.

I found this blog post and really wished I had thought of it first. It totally changed my outlook on the new year and wanted to make my own list J However, I realized I usually don’t give too many “Fs” about things that don’t deserve the time,  so it’d be a pretty short list. So while I just dashed the dreams of those that live and die by New Year’s resolutions, I will redeem your faith in me here. I DO believe in setting goals. Again, anytime is a good time to make a goal. However, last January I set some goals to accomplish in 2013, so in keeping with that, I have done the same again this year. The catch is you HAVE TO WRITE THEM DOWN and LOOK AT THEM OFTEN. I am HUGE believer in visualization; envisioning success leads to achieving it.

These were the training goals I made for myself last year

Guess how many of them I didn’t accomplish? I’ll let you wonder on that one…but as you can see, some of them were crossed out and “re-set”…that’s because I reached them in a few months and needed a higher aim. It worked well enough that I have repeated it again this year with even more confidence in my training and “visualizing” the fullness of my potential. C’mon guys, test this with me!

I have some fantastic vibes coming from 2014 and the epicness it beholds.

In the gym my team and I are training hard and expect some really rad performances comes Games season…with lots of PRs and goal reaching along the way.  I have started building up a support network of sponsors to encourage my CrossFit endeavors. These folks really have some awesome products so please check out their sites:

 Vermont Peanut Butter Company, Inc.

Black Legion Athletic Gear

And some other minor things like HOME OWNERSHIP (booyah!) and PUPPY ADOPTING await me on the 2014 home front. I am beyond pumped for the possibilities that lie within the next 361 days. There is absolutely no time like the present, y’all! Get on with it!