Friday with Heidi: The best time to plant a tree…

It’s the time of year when people start saying things to me like “ahhh, it’s nearly Christmas I’ll start in January” or “there’s no point starting now if I am only going to have to stop again” and it made me remember this great proverb which we can apply to so many areas of our lives.

When you’ve decided that you want to make a change with something, it’s always best to do something towards it immediately. Start the ball rolling so to speak. 

You want to get fit? 

Get out for a walk. 

You want to lose some weight?

Get rid of all the chocolate in your house.

You want to have a good pension when you retire?

Set up a standing order to start saving today. 

When you start with a good and positive intention it keeps the excitement high, it starts the process and it gets your mind thinking about ‘what next’ rather than ‘when shall I start?’. 

Also, and no less importantly, these things all tend to take time. So starting as soon as we can means we’re taking the necessary steps to get there. Waiting to start means forever delaying the end point. 

• What are you still talking about but not getting around to?
• What one thing can you do today to get your tree seed planted?
• How long will it be before you get your reward if you start today?

If you’re still talking about getting fit, losing weight, doing some exercise or putting yourself first there’s some ways that we may be able to help you at FastTrack Fit Camp.

We’re back outside and running face to face sessions. If you’ve exhausted your screen time on Zoom, want to leave the house and do something different with a friendly bunch of people, do come and join us at one of our outdoor sessions. We were back and outside from Wednesday this week at Swallowfield and our Henley and Winnersh sessions start from Sunday this weekend. Our current timetable is here.

If you’d like to be active over Christmas so you end the year feeling more Elf than Grinch then check out our Christmas timetable which starts from the week beginning 21 December. All sessions from Monday 21 December to Sunday 3 January will be offered on a pay-as-you-go basis too. Just ask us for more details. 

We have a Christmas Jumper session on Christmas Eve to get hot and sweaty in if you fancy a pre-Christmas workout.

On New Years Eve I am hosting a Zoomers vs Bearwood Challenge where my goal is to max out both platforms. 98 log ins on Zoom and 29 in attendance at Bearwood Recreation Ground. Both will need to be booked in advance, do that sooner rather than later so you’re not disappointed. I am raising money for The Link Visiting Scheme. There’s been much talk of the loneliness of people this year and I am keen to donate to this valuable local charity.

One of the big things I’ve learned about myself this year is the resilience I have to keep on keeping on. 

I knew I was stubborn and dogged but only saw these as negatives before 2020. Now I can see that they’ve held me in good stead was we’ve been in lockdown 1 and 2 and come out the other side still smiling. As such I want to share with you what resources you have to build your own resilience muscle too. 

2021’s Happiest Year Yet event will be all about this. You can find out more here and book your online place. Please share this one with friends. Geography is no longer an issue for events and I am looking forward to helping as many people as possible to start their 2021 positively,  with an understanding of where their reserves are. 

Finally this week, I’ve started a little project after reading a chapter in the book ‘Think like a Tree‘ by Sarah Spencer. She talks about a wellbeing task, #3naturethings, a way to be more in the moment and less in our heads. I’ve started looking for 3 things to appreciate in nature each day and snap a picture and write a sentence about them. It’s a nice distraction and ensures I get out each day too!

Here’s the first 3 days. 

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