Yesterday the calendar told me I was one year closer to being "old." I am one step closer to middle-age, closer to 40 than 30 now. I won't lie - birthdays aren't as fun of a reminder as they used to be. There were things I had assumed would happen by an arbitrary time that - for whatever reason still haven't happened. Each birthday is a not-so-happy reminder of those things. I can understand why birthdays can be a bummer for some.
Even with those reminders, though, I truly love birthdays. They are another built-in period to stop, to reflect, and to learn.
As I was thinking of what to write for today, I realized that the biggest lesson I've learned over the last year is to simply be who I am. To not care what everyone else is doing. To not try to keep up with someone else...
It's a hard lesson to learn, to be sure. It's very easy to get carried by a rising tide. The thing about tides? They often leave you somewhere you really didn't want to be - and definitely not somewhere you had planned. They dump you on a rocky shore and then take off for somewhere else - with someone else. Sometimes when that happens, you end up somewhere amazing - completely by chance. Unfortunately, what happens most often is you wake up and really don't know where you are - or possibly even who you are. And getting back to where you want to be? It's a lot harder than you were prepared for.
The struggle is real, y'all.
This lesson applies to SO MUCH in my life right now: my career, my fitness, my relationships...and - most importantly - to my own self-image. Let's take fitness for example, since, you know, this *is* a health and fitness blog first of all. Back in January, ShaunT released a new program: Transform:20. It was a step program and one I was truly excited for. It was brand new. So many of my friends were doing it. It was ShaunT, and I could finish THIS one. But it was still cardio. Despite my love for all things weights, I did the program. And I enjoyed it, for the most part. But to be honest? It just wasn't me. I wasn't being true to me...and in the process, I lost a TON of strength. When I went back to a program with weights, I was shocked at how light I had to lift in most muscle groups. Can I be honest? Lifting as lightly as I had to was more disappointing to me than if I had never finished a ShaunT program.

So this year? This year the lesson is to truly be who I am, warts and all. What about you? Do you find yourself straying from what makes you "you"? Do you seem to be losing yourself? I have a challenge for you:
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