Setting Goals and Eating Cookies

And just like that, we are back to basics. 

I spent a lot of time over the last 7 days not doing a whole lot.  I mean, there's normal life, wife and kids, and the busy holiday season but in regards to fitness and running and overall health.  NADA.  Ok OK, I did sneak in a couple tiny runs on the trail over the weekend but SHUT UP I pretty much rested all week and besides, the weather was REDONK ;)

 What I learned from the last 7 days after Memphis was this:

1.) The Schlafly Christmas Ale is SO. GOOD. 
2.) The Blue Moon Mountain Abbey Ale is SO. GOOD.
3.) My couch in the living room is SO COMFY.
4.) My wife makes Christmas cookies (and everything else) that are SO. GOOD.
5.) My sweat pants are SO. COMFY.

....and that's it. 

Just kidding, about it being "it".  There was more.  But seriously though, it's good to take a week to reset after a long hard year of training and racing.  It is SO necessary to be able to unwind and know what you need to do in order to recharge.  In all of this physical manifestation of finding my "recharge", I made sure to stay mentally present.  I wasn't checked out.  It was a good week of mulling over details, dealing with a tiny bit of self-pity, allowing myself to FEEL disappointed (about Memphis, not the entire year), and then heading down the path of finding resolve and a renewed direction for the next steps.  It's a process, and I think I treated it fairly and properly as one. 

Every year around this time I get heavily introspective.  (Not pensive, or depressed... let's be clear)  It is a natural progression of review, regroup, and resolve.  It produces a framework for setting goals.  Plain and simple.  It's how my mind works.  Setting 'resolutions' isn't a new concept so I'm not trying to overly dramatize it, seriously. 

But I think there is something to be said for appropriately taking stock, REAL stock, of exactly where you sit in relation to last year and in relation to the year ahead. It's not just a new list, scribbled in pencil, that you can stick on the fridge on January 1st and hope for dear life to hang on long enough to feel validated in your effort to 'keep' your resolutions.  It's an honest process that hopefully produces raw, unedited MOTIVATION that will serve to fuel your next 12 months.  It's an admission before the MISSION. 

Here are the questions I ask every year, and it doesn't JUST relate to running. (Obviously... I'm not a robot, you guys ;)

1.)  What did I accomplish this year?
2.)  How do I FEEL about what I accomplished this year?
3.)  Do I have any regrets? If so, why? 
4.)  Who do I want to BE next year?
5.)  What do I want to accomplish, in being the person I want to be? (Specifically)
6.)   How am I going to accomplish what I WANT? (Lay out the details)
7.)   Who knows about this, and who will help me keep an extra eye on the prize?

'Resolution' has a formal definition that represents the concept of "...an intention made".  Do we INTEND to keep our resolutions?  DUH.  Yes, we do.  We always set out with the best of intentions.  But, intentions are empty without a real commitment.  Semantics?  I don't think so.  You know in your head and in your heart when you are merely intending, or considering, or 'tossing it around a bit'.  YOU know.  Maybe nobody else does, but you do. 

What I am suggesting is that we spend less time moaning over the resolutions abandoned and we instead begin to learn about ourselves enough to BUILD a framework and a foundation for the coming year that allows us to COMMIT, over and over again.  Be good to yourself, be true to yourself, but resolve to be a fighter this next year for the things you are truly committed to.

I love this time of year.  The possibilities are endless.  You can be unbreakable if you really WANT to be. 

What do you want to be?