A Personal Reflection on the Year 2019 and Setting Goals for 2020

I have to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to write the last article about my struggle with weight loss but the response has been really positive and people have started sharing their own stories of goal setting with me since! As the holiday marks the end of another year, I thought it would be the perfect time to self-reflect on what happened during my weight-loss journey and goal setting since my last post!

Do you believe in regret? I don’t! I believe that we make the best decisions in the moment based on the information we have and the emotions we are going through at that time. When we know better, we do better.  Having regret is like trying to rewrite your history with the knowledge you have gained from experiencing life lessons.

I learned a long time ago that I am only human, I make mistakes and I can evolve to be the best person I can be. 

This month, I was at a Christmas luncheon for work and the night before, I dug through my closet to find “something nice” to wear.  I found this old top in the very back of my closet that I hadn’t worn in years because it was too small for me. I probably tucked it to the far back so I could forget about it.

I decided to put it on and to my surprise and happiness, it fit! I couldn’t believe it. While this was not the dramatic before and after weight loss photo you see online, it was a really great reminder that I had been sticking to my goal to lose weight. It gave me that spark and an overwhelming feeling of positivity toward the possibilities for 2020 as I look ahead into the new year!

This glimmer of excitement and success got me thinking about something I’d pushed aside for quite some time.

I am very much a tom boy and I love hockey. Growing up in a farm town in Alberta, hockey is in my blood and it’s a part of who I am. I am a proud Oilers fan. The only setback was that I never bought a jersey, because I felt that the shops would never carry my size jersey. I couldn’t handle the idea of the jersey not fitting and I couldn’t stomach that kind of disappointment from something I love so much. 

Being inspired by the holiday shirt in my closet fitting, I decided to stop punishing myself and buy the jersey. I placed my order online and was very nervous, anxiously waiting for it to arrive in the mail. What would I do and how would I react if it didn’t fit?

I bought the largest size they had available online and just crossed my fingers. The delivery came and I had mixed emotions as I took it out of the wrapping. I took a deep breath and tried it on.

IT FIT! A little snug but a positive direction and yet another reminder I should continue down this path for 2020. Now, with every game I watch, I can enjoy it more wearing my new jersey!

It’s moments like these that encourage me to stick with my goals and weight loss journey. Let the little reminders help you in your own goal setting and success! I didn’t make any dramatic lifestyle changes, but instead I stayed focussed on the little things for now.

The holidays are stressful enough as it is. There is no reason to add more pressure on yourself to be a certain way. It takes a lot more work to build a person that you wish you were than to just be who you are. That is the journey that I currently find myself on.  The biggest change for me over the past year was learning to embrace who I really am and the things I am passionate about. I started writing up a bucket list of things I want to accomplish and honestly, some of that stuff on there terrifies and excites me all at the same time and I encourage you to write your very own!

Until next time, enjoy the holidays and give New Years an honest go: no filters, no hiding, just be you and find those stepping stones to goals you want to achieve in 2020.