It's a new beginning..

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."

Happy New Year!!!! It's a New Year and this is your chance to be a new you, a better version of your wonderful self.

I have always felt that the New Year is an opportunity to start fresh, to have a clean slate, to dream big, set goals and go after the you that you have always wanted to be. Throughout my life I feel as though I have been building, adding or acquiring new responsibilities, new certifications, education, qualifications, belongings..... I feel like I have reached the point when it's time to break down, purge, simplify and let some things go. In order to have a new beginning sometimes something else has to end. So is it true, does this mean less is sometimes more???? Does every new beginning come from some other beginnings end??? In my case, I realize somethings gotta give.

I feel as though the last 12-months have been jam packed with "new". So many new experiences, a brand new place, as a newly married couple to name just a few! New, has proven to be both exciting and scary all at once. Living in Europe has been a wonderful journey - I have enjoyed seeing this part of the world, going to school and having some time away from my busy career but it has also brought to my attention how much I identified myself with my work. I was really comfortable with what I was doing and the people I worked with and the life I had created for myself. So much so that I didn't really have an identity outside of my job and who I was at work.

In the short 6-months that we've been here I feel as though I've grown exponentially as a person. I have taken time to reflect on what things I love to do, what I like to do and what I want to do in the future. I have improved as a teacher and a student. I have taken time for myself; which has been really difficult. There have been moments where I have felt guilty, unworthy and lazy for not being a shadow of the workaholic I once was. But I have also recognized that taking this time has resulted in my most creative and focused efforts in a long time. Instead of spreading myself so thin and getting by with doing enough, I have been able to give 100% of myself. I once received feedback from one of my students at McMaster, she was a fitness instructor on my staff, she said that she felt I did a great job and she enjoyed working with me but that I had more to give. More to give???? At the time I didn't think much of it because I was working as many hours as I possibly could. I thought it was feedback for the sake of feedback but looking back it wasn't about the hours it was about being present. I get that now!!!!

To mark the New Year I have made a few goals and one of the most powerful things that you can do to achieve your goals is to share them with others, so here they are;

1) Improve as a Yoga and Pilates instructor - teach once per week, spend 20-min each morning on my personal practice and attend another teachers class once per week

2) Continue to develop as a fitness and spin instructor - teach my 10-classes each week and take advantage of the opportunity to receive feedback from managers, senior instructors and participants (something coming here has afforded me the opportunity to do)

3) Successfully complete my 3rd year Osteopathy exams - grade of 70% on both the theory and practical

4) Grow my business, empower.ed bodhi, to be self sustaining over the next 3-months

5) Hug Nick, Maggie, Gizmo and Pumpkin everyday :)

Do you believe in me??? I believe in me and I believe in you!