Four life lessons from 2020
Where do we begin reviewing the challenges and growth that 2020 has brought?! Here's 4 key life lessons I've learnt this year.
Live in the moment not just in the future
I’m quite a goal oriented person and have an endless list of things I want to do or achieve now and one day in the future. It’s too easy to get swept up in the business of doing doing doing and forget to take time out to enjoy life NOW.
I love summer and had planned to take a month off work hitting the beach once I finished my Doctorate… but COVID19 put both of those plans to a halt. My old mindset was a bit work work work work work focused to try and get it done but I realised I didn’t want to waste another year not doing things I loved now.
Perhaps I couldn't go to the beach every day for a month like I wanted, but I started blocking out Wednesday afternoons for beach trips with friends and working earlier and later in the day to accommodate it. As a result I found myself being more productive and not getting frustrated about missing another summer.
Lesson: Make space in my life NOW to create the life I want to live.
Let go of things you can’t control
On the Doctorate front I’m running about 12 months behind my (self-imposed) schedule. It’s not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things but something I really had to battle and come to terms with.
I had planned to take 3 months off work to focus solely on data analysis and writing my thesis with the goal of graduating in July. I had a series of work commitments that would allow that to happen which all got cancelled when we went into total lockdown. This meant that all goals and deadlines had to completely shift, which was hard to let go of at times.
This year has been time after time of moments that we can’t control or do anything to change. All we can do is focus on the things within out control and how we react to what is out of our control.
I don’t know exactly when I’m going to finish next year, but I know without a doubt that I will and it’ll be worth the journey. All I have to do is keep making daily consistent steps towards that goal.
Lesson: Have clear goals and deadlines but be flexible and adaptable if and when they change
Rest to be more productive.
Perhaps one of the things I’m proudest of being much better at this year is to have stopped working on the weekends. (With the odd exception).
I completely love my job and love what I do, but if I don’t rest enough and take time out, my productivity wanes and I achieve less not more.
By taking time out from work and putting clearer boundaries in place it also means being able to spend more quality time with friends or family. Which are the things that matter most at the end of the day.
Lesson: Rest and recharge to bring my A game and enjoy life to its fullest.
Small steps done consistently creates change
This is something I talk about with my clients regularly, but I feel like it really hit home to me personally this year.
I have wanted to incorporate more stretching and strength work into my weekly training but it never really came up as being a priority- I would much rather ride my bike all day every day.
During lockdown I began creating a new habit to incorporate stretching on a more daily basis - starting with a minute or two at a time.
I already had a solid morning routine in place, so I started adding stretching into that. I’d turn the coffee machine on, stretch for a minute then make my coffee and read like normal.
Within a couple months that minute became 5, then 10 and around 3 months later I started to see and feel the benefits in terms of my flexibility and strength.
It doesn’t happen overnight and you don’t see the results straight away or even consistently, but by linking those little changes to your future goal it is possible to create great change.
Lesson: Small consistent changes lead to bigger long term results.
What have you learnt this year?
Here's to a brighter 2021!
Happy training,
Gemma
Gemma Sampson RD APD
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