New year, schmew year

There is something special about welcoming in a new year. However, I always expect it to be a little more glamorous than it turns out to be…

There was quite the celebration last year that I missed out on. While I was at home on the couch getting ridiculously sick, my friends were out dancing in the new year together, and sweating out tequila the next day. (Caitlin, you are so amazing for staying home on the couch with me all night while I was dying.)

This year it didn’t matter that most of my friends were either out of town or pregnant. That Nicci and I only went to grab some wine and were still both in bed before midnight.

2018 is here and I couldn’t be more excited.

This time last year we talked about “empowerment.” When we set the intention for the year, little did we know how challenging the year would turn out to be and how much we would need that strength. I’m not going to lie, as great as many things from this year were (keep an eye out tomorrow for some of those great things), it was undeniably the hardest year of my life.

Shortly before Christmas last year, we found out my dad was diagnosed with cancer. And a month later found out it was Stage IV, aggressive, incurable, and rare. After undergoing chemo and going into remission, he went through a bone marrow transplant. Watching one of the people you love most in this world go through something like that shakes you. It changes you. It changes everything.

One year of Trump.

Devastating hurricanes, fires, earthquakes abounded. When it looked like Irma was headed right for us in NC, it luckily skirted us at the last minute. But I left hurricane watch to return to the Portland smoke scene, and not the 420-friendly kind. I just missed seeing the ash rain down over the city, but was still coughing from all the smoke. I still have yet to drive out into the Gorge, but am so sad to think about the senselessness that caused acres of beautiful wilderness and countless animal lives to be destroyed.

Whether it was cancer or natural disasters, or the social travesties that are going on in our world right now, 2017 was a year of focusing not only on building strength but on purely surviving in a lot of ways. Jamie phrased it perfectly: that it was a year of learning lessons, which we can hopefully put to use going forward!

Take the #metoo movement. It is absolutely devastating hearing all of the stories of abuse, and to know now for a fact that it has touched most of us. It is absolutely incredible (and not in a good way) to discover who all has abused their power to prey on those that were pressured to take it silently. Until now.

A post shared by Emily Schuman (@emilyschuman) on Oct 25, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT

I think more change is coming. I mean, I know it is. But with all the change, even good change, also comes a certain level of anxiety. We fear the unknown.

But the only constant in life is change. As Nic said, this is the year to take action and move forward. That without struggle, there is no strength. So we’ve had the struggle, we’ve built the strength (and continue to do so). Now it’s time to progress.

For this year’s theme, Sweat Pink and Gixo are teaming up to spread the message: I am limitless. This goes beyond strength. This goes beyond a paltry resolution that doesn’t even last til the end of the month (ahem, “no sugar” – yeah right). This is a mentality. The idea that there are no boundaries, that the possibilities are endless, that “impossible” isn’t even a word in our vocabularies.

I’m so excited to start off the year on this foot, to team up with Gixo and Fit Approach with this message. And this challenge. Because it will be a challenge. The new year is a time to enjoy when everything is hopeful, inspirational, shiny and new. But things to get hard, roadblocks do appear. So it’s good to have something to help keep you on track, even if that track is to just believe that anything is possible.

That’s a big reason why I like goals rather than resolutions. In the midst of all the New Year’s posts this year, someone I follow on Instagram made that observation. That resolutions are appropriately associated with the new year. But goals can be set at any time! Most people in my life are on board this year, with goals and inspiration rather than resolutions.

Each Wednesday and Friday, starting on January 10 – February 2, Fit Approach will be sharing messages of inspiration, empowerment, and positivity and are asking the Sweat Pink community to come together and join us in this incredible movement.

Join in on the inspiration here!

 

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Gixo. All opinions are my own. Thanks for keeping us empowered and sweaty through the new year, Gixo!