Week One of 2021

January 8, 2021

Like many of you, I woke on January first and felt remarkably lighter, as if the angst of 2020 had been somehow lifted. I felt optimistic, excited and eager to make a fresh start in a new year. I had a list of plans and goals, and couldn't wait to get started!

Alas, a full week has now passed, and unfortunately that familiar feeling of frustration, the weight that is helplessness amidst a pandemic is slowly descending upon my shoulders. Instead of the activities planned for week one, I found myself fielding and making calls with my teams to ensure they have everything they need while our hotels are shut. I’m concerned for the hundreds of families these businesses support. I took calls from clients who were set to expand their business this month but have to postpone due to government restrictions and employee illnesses, and calls from athletic coaching clients concerned they won’t be ready for scheduled competitions because their gyms are closing again. I’m still reeling from losing my amazing grandmother just before Christmas and not being able to travel to see her before she passed. I’m angry with the people that think the rules don’t apply to them and have pushed the numbers back up.

In short, I’m just tired of Covid and want this roller coaster to be over with and really thought we’d all be further ahead in everything by now.

Does any of this sound familiar? I can’t be the only one. So, I decided to share how I got out of this mindset before it drug me down a wormhole of despair and climbed back towards the light of optimism. 

As many of you do as one year closes and another opens, I made a list of my goals for the year. But I also dug out my old journals and reviewed what my plans for the past few years had looked like, and was delighted to realize just now much I’ve achieved in the past decade. Goals I had set that at one time seemed incredibly audacious are now just a part of who I am; ideas that once seemed like mere pipe dreams are now old news, and I’m reaching for even higher achievements. I remembered that every time I had set a goal, I had a choice. I could focus on all the obstacles that were in my way, or I could do what I’ve always done, and find ways to work around them, and still push forward.

At face value, 2021 was no different. But this year I realized I may need a bit more than a once of trip down memory lane to give me the push I need. This was going to take the big guns. I needed to call on my resilience muscles and also have some serious self-talk sessions. I needed to say things like, ‘If you had to get somewhere and a tree was blocking the road, would you just turn around and go home?’ This led to a whole vision of having to go down a new road, perhaps even pave a new path, down a much narrower road, and maybe I’d have to unhitch the trailer full of *stuff* I was hauling with me (insert all the BS from 2020 here) and let go of it to get down this path. But come hell or high water, I was still going to get where I was going. Right? ‘Right?’ I asked myself again. ‘Of course I am!’ ‘That’s right.’ (And yes, I do talk to myself sometimes. We all do, some of just don’t admit it or aren’t aware. More on this some other day but for now let’s get back on that path to our goals of 2021.)

So as 2021 starts, it seems we are all going down a road we’ve never quite navigated, and still can’t be sure of exactly what’s ahead. Of course, I could just sit here and wait for someone to move that tree and take the road I’m used to. I could put off reaching any of my goals and plans until businesses and gyms are open. I could wallow in my frustration that things aren’t going as expected, and no one would really hold it against me that I haven’t started on my goals yet. Sure, who would blame me? After the year we’ve had, no one would.

Or I could find a new way to at least start towards my destination. Frankly, I’m not going to sit and wait for someone to move that tree, cuz there’s no sign of anyone coming for months! I’ll need to set my compass in the direction I know I am going, and then continuously check it to see if I’m still heading in the right direction. So, that is what I have done. I have not given up or set aside any of my audacious plans for 2021, and am confident that I will still reach them. Eventually. I can’t start training new staff this week as I’d planned, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make the most of this time and make sure I have absolutely everything ready to go for when they do return to work. I can also keep in touch with the teams and keep them engaged, sharing the plans so we all have something to look forward to.  I can’t go to the gym now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make healthy eating choices and go for a walk every day. And since it’s a new path, I will need to check my compass more often; I will need to review what I’m doing each week and each month along the way. 

I can use the fact that we’re still locked down as an excuse to delay starting my goals, or I can find a detour and another way. I’m choosing to find another way.