Balance

I have a wise and wonderful friend who has suggested for the last two years that instead of writing resolutions for the new year that we think about a word to focus on for the year. Of course, Eileen might have been doing this longer than two years, but this is my second year paying attention to her idea.

My word for 2016 is the title of this post: Balance. Yes, the clumsy woman said her word for 2016 is balance. All right, go ahead: laugh...I'll wait.

I actually looked up balance, because I know it doesn't just mean the ability to stay on your feet, it's one of those words I'd better understand if I am going to focus on it for twelve months. Balance can be either a noun or a verb and I chose it because I want to focus on making sure all the parts of my life are in equal proportions.

Let's be honest, my main focus, my true passion is fitness. I've put A LOT of time into becoming as fit as I am currently and I want to be more fit in 2016. I want to pull more, push more and squat with more weight. Not because I have something I need to prove to anyone, I don't. I am strong, period. End of story. The truth is I LIKE lifting and I seem to be somewhat good at it. If I am going to work on the things I am not as good at, I should be able to reward myself with the things I love.

This won't come as a surprise to my family, friends, supervisors or my coaches, but I get focused on something and I forget other aspects of my life. The tendonitis in my left knee was a BIG wake up call for me. I love my workouts, but there's a good chance I don't need six hardcore workouts in one week to show my dedication to fitness. I'm pretty sure my coaches know I'm dedicated to what I'm doing even if they don't see my face in every class.

I've spent the last few weeks thinking about my workouts, trying to objectively weigh what I want versus what I can reasonably do and allow my body the time it needs to recover. I've got the training down (maybe over training is a more accurate term, but I'm working on that) and I am figuring out the refueling. Now I need to step up my game and get the recovery piece of the puzzle in place.

While I'm thinking about balance I need to look at my job too. For the first time ever this spring I will mentor a student teacher. I met her before break and she seems so sweet. I want to give her a realistic view of what it means to be a special educator. What I don't want her to come away with is the idea that everything must always be perfect. As much as I want to be perfect and do everything perfectly for my students I don't, I can't and I absolutely don't want someone considering a career as a teacher to think being perfect is a prerequisite. We'll see how balance in my professional life goes.

Here's to balance in all aspects of my life in 2016.

Expect a recap of my fitness 2015 goals and how I did meeting them and then I'll let you in on my fitness goals for 2016.

Thanks for reading!