Goals, not Resolutions!

Happy 2016!  How has your training been going?  Not gonna lie, I definitely slacked off the last two weeks of the year.  My brother got married, then his birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and then my birthday.  That week before Christmas is always a marathon week for my family and by the time New Year’s rolls around, I’m beat!

Now, I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions.  I think if you want to make a change in your life, you can do it anytime!  There’s always the first of the month, first day of the week, or hey, why not start something new on a Thursday just because you want to?  But, I get why they’re popular.  I don’t do resolutions, but I do do birthday goals.  For 28 I wanted to travel more.  And with 33 races, 9 plane rides, 6 states, 14 nights spent in a hotel and 6 nights spent in friends’ lovely guest rooms, I’d say I smashed that goal.  I like birthday goals more because I feel like it relates to me more.  Yeah, I would like to lose weight as a New Year’s resolution, but saying I want to be a certain size by my next birthday just feels more powerful.  Maybe that’s just me, but it works for me, so I’m all for whatever works for you! 

I’ve been doing this birthday goal resolution thing since my 22^nd birthday.  And for the most part, it’s been super successful.  One year I wanted to go to more concerts; another I wanted to experience new things so I bought a Groupon a month.  The birthday resolutions started because I had a really bad 21^st year.  So for 22 I decided to just get out of the house and have fun.  I did my own version of a “Yes Man” year and pretty much said yes anytime anyone invited me out.  I had become such an introvert that this was a HUGE deal for me.  And I had a blast!  This year was the first year that I felt like I’d accomplished everything major I wanted to accomplish.  I feel like I’ve finally laid a blueprint for the life I want to live and I’m on a really good path and am enjoying every minute of it.  It’s been good.  So when 29 came closer I couldn’t think of anything major I wanted to change.  Sure, I want to lose weight and stop procrastinating so much.  But nothing so big as the past few years have been.

Solution?  I wrote down everything I want to do this year.  All the little things.  And I came up with 10!  So I thought, let’s do a 30 before 30 list.  Every time I think of something, no matter how small, I write it down.  So this list will definitely be a progression as the year goes on.  I’m sure I can think of 30 things (I’m already at 15) and I know that all these little things will only help me have a really solid and fun future.  Some of them really scared me as I wrote them down, which means I definitely am dreaming big!  I even finally partnered with my bestie, Team Berns Fitness to start my own running group.  To be perfectly honest, it really freaked me out the more real it became.  But I love running and while I acknowledge that it’s not for everyone, running a 5k is.  Having a team of strong women working towards a goal with you, is.  I’ve had a lot of people over the last year ask me for advice on running their first half marathon and I love being part of their journey.  It’s not easy, but it’s so totally worth it, so this is my opportunity to do that on a broader scale.  And while I’m still a little scared, I’m also super excited. 

I’ll post my list in the next post, but until then, what are some of your goals for this year?