My poor lonely little sign. It is hanging tough out there but guess what? It is that time again. We are currently in that 6 week period from Thanksgiving to New Years day when all bets are off. People travel, your nutrition suffers (so does mine), your workouts diminish, and any routine or schedule you had for your life goes right out the front door when you open it up to grab that amazon package. You find every reason to not prioritize your fitness or health because you have to go do that thing. Even the idea of moderation seems too difficult to manage. We are bombarded with all things sugar, booze, and carb related. Not to mention, most folks spend money they don’t have on people they see a few times a year or on office gift exchanges for people they may or may not even like. It is an expectation that we indulge. It is the HOLIDAYS!

Now don’t get me wrong, you will find me in the kitchen with classic Christmas songs cranked, trying to figure out if I want to make the cookies healthy or just let it go because it is the holidays. You should also know that when my grandparents were alive, our family BLED Christmas. It was our happiest moments as an extended family. Anyone that has been around my family has heard us all go on and on about the amounts of homemade baked goods from my grandmother. She would always have the same amount of gifts under the tree for everyone, with one special one that she made… a quilt or pillow. No one knows how that woman managed to get all that done, run the Dietary Department of a Hospital, make time to volunteer, and take care of everyone around her. But it/she was amazing! And none of us ever wanted to miss it and none of us have been able to replicate what she did since.

Why am I telling you this? What does it have to do with your fitness or our community? I am telling you because it is real. Because over time, we built the holidays up to be this period where it is okay to indulge, it is okay to spend more than we have… it is okay to drop our healthy lifestyle just for a bit. It is all OKAY because it is expected. I love Christmas, I love the lights, the smells, the feel of it all, and giving gifts. The reality is that every day can feel like this, especially when we are healthy—physically, mentally, and emotionally. I understand that life happens and some days just suck for reasons beyond our control but we have the power to make our every day lives feel like the holidays make us feel for six weeks out of the year. Overall, we give more this time of year to our friends and families. We are a little kinder to strangers, leave better tips, and donate to charities. I know that some people hate the holidays and get stressed out by them. That is not okay either. Either way, this time of year is affecting most people in one way or another positively or negatively.

Every Fitness Studio and Big Box gym in the world is counting on your reemergence after the holidays. They devise plans and know that they will prey on your holiday indulgence guilt. Now I certainly hope that my sign becomes less lonely around January 2nd and I hope to find some of you recommitting to your health and community. I have no trickery for you just my realist self. I, for one, will attempt to make 2019 a more balanced year overall. Meaning, I want to give more, build more, and feel more every day of my life. I have some ideas on how I would like to do that. I will let you all in on that a little later on. I do challenge you all to do that for yourselves or part of a community. Also, your fitness does not have to wait until after the holidays, stay engaged with your support, keep moving, try to make healthy choices during the work week as much as possible and then let loose and have fun at your gatherings.

There are some folks that have stayed steady. Here are a few videos from class: