2021 January Top Three / 2020 Recap

This past year has been full of challenges. Not only did the global pandemic hit us hard, but this past year has also brought a lot of personal struggles. Needless to say, it was a hard year. One thing you should know about me, I don't believe that a new calendar year necessarily means a new beginning; it can - but it doesn't have to. I see a lot of social media posts saying that 2021 can't be as bad as 2020. Reality is, come new years day, COVID-19 is still going to be here. A virus spread across the planet doesn't care that our calendar year has come to an end. With that said, I don't think January first is THE BEST DAY to start fresh, or to set goals for yourself. My personal opinion is, TODAY is the BEST day to change your life. No matter if you're reading this on January 1st or June 17th, you can start your journey TODAY.

Sometimes I feel like it is difficult to change. It is extremely hard to mend a broken relationship with someone or start eating healthier than before. Change is hard, but I guess that's part of the beauty. If new years resolutions are for you, awesome! Do you! But, if you're like me (a little bit annoyed because people break their resolutions in March and then think "oh well I'll try again next year"), try to view it as another day. Another chance to do what you want, change what you want, no matter what that means for you.

I set my goals monthly, and I share my goals here on our blog to help inspire other's who might need that extra push or who feel like it is hard to come up with their own goals. I get it, trust me. I often sit and think "what can I do this month to better myself", and sometimes I come up empty handed. Not because I think I'm perfect, but because I can't put a finger on exactly what needs to change in order for me to grow.

If you want to try my goals with me, tune in once a month to see what I'm working on. If you want to share ideas or tell me about what goals you're working towards, leave a comment down below any post and let me read your story. I would absolutely love that. Gain inspiration and motivation from you would make it easier, knowing I'm not alone.

So, to start off the new year. These will be my official January top three goals:

Meditate/Breathing exercises every day

My therapist gave me a breathing exercise to help me fall asleep. She told me to do it a couple times a day if I remember to. It's supposed to help me take deeper breaths and guide the air to my stomach. The exercise goes like this:

Three second inhale through the nose,

Hold for three seconds,

Five second exhale through the mouth,

Hold for three seconds,

Repeat 3-5 times.

Workout from home

Honestly, I'm a gym shark. I don't workout unless I can go to the gym and when I try to workout from home I don't feel like it's even close to what I get out of the gym. Now, we all have different goals with our fitness and I understand that. But for me, the gym is just the way to go. The gyms in Sweden are open and have stayed open through this whole pandemic, so I have been going but I've tried to only go during the day when the gym isn't busy. I don't see a lot of people to be honest and I always sanitize the equipment I use. BUT I'm getting so freaking TIRED(!!!) of this virus and I think it is time for me to step up my game against COVID-19 and quit the gym for a while. My goals will just have to shift a little bit for the time being, but I need to be even more responsible and pay my dues to society. It's not going away and something obviously needs to change. So, I've decided to start working out from home.

Use my calendar

I've had a yearly calendar for many years now and I love it. I like the structure and the fact that I can actually use pen and paper. If your phone calendar works for you, great! It doesn't work for me though. My mom gave me a calendar for 2021 and it is as simple as they come. A perfect weekly view with hourly timestamps each day. I want to use it more frequently and for every day. I tend to start off the year strong, forget about it around spring/summer and then start back up again when winter rolls around. I really want to get into the habit of using my calendar more regularly and write everything down.

I love color coordination and organization, so this is the start of my calendar!