Why I'm Excited for 2019
HELLO! How are we all? Hope you had a good holiday, and happy 2019! *throws confetti* For the first post of 2019, I thought I would do something different by talking about why I’m excited for the new year, what it means to me and some of my plans (some not all because I’m very particular about the whole jinxing thing). While I usually set goals and resolutions for the new year, I never quite believed that you can magically change the core of who you are at the stroke of midnight simply because it’s the new year. But this year, things are a little bit different. Let me tell you why.
2017 was one of the most transformational years of my life – I quit my job, for a kid who hated PE sessions, I went to my first ever boot camp, for someone who’s chatty and excited all the time, I went to my first every yoga and meditation retreat, gave a presentation at work, started this website. Basically, a lot of growth in the personal and professional front. And then, I just crashed and burned in 2018. Those of you who have been following me on Instagram might know that I wasn’t in the right place mentally last year. I was unmotivated, unproductive and shut myself from the world. Somehow the time I spent procrastinating by watching The Office morphed into time I just laid in bed unable to bring myself to do anything. At all. Thinking about that point of time in my life just brings a bad taste to my mouth now. Thankfully, I managed to recognize that something was wrong, sought help and I’m on a better path. By the time my birthday came around in November, I had managed to rally myself and I just couldn’t wait for the year to be over. Because I wanted to put the dark episode in my life behind, distance myself from it and start again with the lessons from it, rather than with the episode itself.
I wanted a fresh start. Which is why this year feels so important to me. By the way, if you are reading this and having a tough time as well, please seek the right help. Never compromise on your mental health and I’m sending you all the love and positivity in the world. I recognized and understood triggers, my thought patterns and what works for me when I want to cope or move away from negativity. And for some reason, I just didn’t want all this to happen at the same time as the time I was in a dark cloud. I just wanted, and continue to want good vibes and positivity. Now, is 2019 actually going to deliver on all that I hope it will? I don’t know. But hoping that that would be the case doesn’t seem to be the worst thing. Hoping that I handle myself better, hoping that I do better and hoping that better things come my way. And after all, isn’t hope what drives us all?
And in this path of betterment, here are some things that I wish to incorporate into my life this year:
Compassion
In the post about setting goals for 2019, I talked about doing yoga and meditation every morning from January 1st. But, I started my period flush on January 1st and I’m someone who prefers not to do yoga during the time of the month because it upsets my entire cycle. So in theory, I actually only started doing yoga yesterday. In the past I would be very strict and tough with myself about it, wondering why I was so weak and why I can’t just do it anyway since there are women out there who do such things during their time of the month. I would even get on the mat and try to push myself even though I know my body can’t take it. This year, I told myself to be more compassionate with myself and that it’s not the worst thing if I didn’t do yoga on the first day of the year. That this doesn’t mean I’m a failure or that I have failed because I’m 5 days behind on my resolution. Words I would use on myself previously. I think having high expectations of yourself is good but at the same time, it’s important to know and honor genuine limitations rather than trying to push yourself past it and then beating yourself up for it. I’m hoping to be more compassionate towards myself this year.
Fitness
Believe it or not, the barrier between me and good health has actually never been food. It’s actually exercise. 2017 was the year I was in peak shape in my entire life. But last year, what I thought was laziness turned out to be something else when it came to doing any form of physical activity. And staying seated all the time finally made me understand why sitting is the new smoking. So to fix all that, I am hoping to do yoga every morning this year, or within reason like I mentioned. For January, I'm going to be following this 30 day challenge with Yoga with Adrienne. Moving forward, I intend to use the sessions from the app Down Dog. In February, I will add one HIIT training session per week. I intend to make this two HIIT sessions a week in March, three in May and four in July. I’m going to try and push myself for 5 in September, but I would be more than happy with 4 HIIT sessions a week and daily yoga sessions in the morning. I chose HIIT because I realized from experience that my body responds very well to HIIT training – I managed to build muscles, stamina, and discipline. It’s somewhere I can really push myself as well and feel accomplished rather than getting on the treadmill or doing pure cardio. The whole endorphin flow thing. I will be sharing these adventures on Instagram so feel free to come along!
And those two are the only ones I don’t mind sharing for now. I do have more projects planned and when I feel ready to talk about them, I will, so please do keep a lookout for that as well. Thank you so much for continuing to follow my work! I’m really grateful and appreciative of each and every one of you. So, here’s to the new year and you, we are going to crush it, I know. I can feel it in my bones.
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, "Thendral's Telegraph" here!*
