Thoughts While Running #010

so this is the new year...

So here we are, 2024. Yet another election cycle in our midst, dear God may she help us all. I hope Santa was good to all of you and if not there are a slew of end of season sales waiting to be shopped! I just purchased a new pair of not-on-my-list, not-on-sale Novablasts for a little new year motivation.

a new yorker lol for the new year.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about New Years. I’m absolutely worthless past 9pm and can’t handle more than two glasses of champagne so I’m not exactly the party animal you’d want yawning next to you when the ball drops. As for the whole ‘new year new you’ resolution thing, I really don’t love them. Too rigid, the expectations too high. There’s an underlying ‘I’m not perfect but maybe giving up ‘x’ or changing ‘y’ will get me there’. But if it’s your thing and it motivates you to run an extra mile in 2024, then you do you.

What I like doing instead is taking a little inventory of the year behind and the year ahead. How am I feeling? Stuck? Inspired? Anxious? Does something or somewhere need a little extra attention? Could something or somewhere use a little less? This year I decided to come up with a more/less list. I like that it’s fluid…allows for some humanity while recognizing not all vices are bad, some just serve me a little better when they’re used in moderation (*ahem* Instagram).

my more + less list for 2024. I think the trendy way of looking at this is to make an ‘in/out’ list but ‘trend’ is also on my ‘less’ list so there you go.

I also like to get outside, by myself and go for a run on new years eve or day to do a little internal check in. See what, if anything bubbles up. Get a little quiet with my thoughts. In 2015 I distinctly remember thinking ‘this will be the year I quit my job’ and six months later I resigned. In 2021 I thought ‘this will be the year I get pregnant’ and 11 months later I gave birth to my son.

This year will be the year I open ‘Wylder Run Goods.’

It’s exciting/it’s terrifying. I’m filled with dread/I can’t wait to get started. I read once anxiety and excitement are essentially the same feeling, just a different perspective. I don’t know if it’s true or something someone made up to make those of us with anxiety feel better about ourselves but what I do know is I’ve been feeling both, a lot.

I think it’s good when a goal or idea evokes a wide range of feelings - the ones that feel good and the ones that feel scary. The ones that make us jump out of bed in the morning and the ones that make us want to hide under the covers. This means it’s important, it has weight. It’s a goal meant to challenge…meant to grow. Because growing isn’t easy. Learning something new isn’t easy. These things aren’t all good feels all the time. It’s hard, it can be scary and most importantly it can also be fun. It’s an opportunity to learn to think differently and challenge the current status quo in our lives.

As I think about the year ahead, and the year after that and after that, I think about my legacy, the one I want Dougie to see. One that encourages him to follow through on his passions, to chase a dream or career that at times can feel bigger than what he knows to do with and to be inspired by the work he creates, whatever that may be. Doctor, accountant, designer.

This is also the year I’ve decided to run a half marathon again so I signed up to run the Copenhagen half in September. A race I was originally supposed to run in 2020 and well, we all know how that turned out. TBD if I’ll be running it this year as there’s a 98% chance I’ll be in the thick of either launching or running a new business. Maybe I can whip up some logo’d product and call it a business expense!

So cheers to 2024 and beyond, whatever it may bring. May it be a year that brings us all closer and move us all forward in a positive direction.

*k