Friday with Heidi: Slowing down…

Are you feeling it?

Are you feeling the need to slow down, take stock and just breathe?

All of us have had the most unusual of years. Collectively it’s been much the same experience, but personally the intricacies of people’s lives, businesses, relationships, finances, health and well-being have all been challenged. 

You may have been furloughed more of the year than not. Or maybe you’ve juggled the dizzying array of home-schooling, running a business (or home), home working, managing elderly rellies or someone shielding. It’s really been quite a time in our lives when we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, our families and society as a whole. 

So I think it’s the perfect time to take stock and reflect on where you really are with how this year has gone and what you now want to do in 2021. 

I accept that we don’t yet know what 2021 will allow us to do. We don’t know how our lives will look, but I do think that we’ve had enough versions of what we may be subjected to next year. 

• We can do full lockdown. We’ve got that sorted!
• We can do partial lockdown. We get a bit confused with the rules but we’ve got that too. 
• We can and look forward to no lockdown, no tiering, no restrictions. What that will look like and when, only time will tell, but given that we can manage all these I encourage you to consider how you now want your life to look?

This year has given me that opportunity in spades. With the untimely death of Kay in February I had a moment where I had the classic ‘we have one life‘ thought and felt compelled to make some changes. 

They were messy, visceral and from the depths of my intuition. But boy does it feel good to have made them. 

I’ve juggled Fit Camp, a divorce, moving out, a house sale, the ‘are we outside, are we online?’ question, at the same time as my kids being away and out of reach in Manchester and Leeds, my mum being lonely and feeling vulnerable, my Dad not really noticing much of a difference in Blackpool, my sister with a new baby I haven’t much been able to see, feeling utterly blissed out and in love in an unexpected and wonderful new relationship and all the other stuff inbetween. 

On reflection it’s been glorious and exhausting, life affirming and challenging and emotionally draining but equally no different to anyone else’s experiences too. 

So I think my closing thoughts of the year will be a warm satisfaction and gratitude for getting to this point mentally sound, physically able and emotionally content. 

The highs of Fit Camp for me are:

• The immediacy with which we went to Zoom. We didn’t miss one day of Fit Camp when we hit lockdown in March.
• Running 3 months of free Sunday Wake Up! sessions until the end of July with a massive 193 Zoom log ins for my 50th birthday session in May. 
• I am also still so bloody chuffed with how well our online 24 hour charity Fit Camp went in June raising over £3,600 for Prostate Cancer UK.
• Making it to 11 years in business this November.
• The hilarity our Lockdown Awards last month gave us for an hour or so. 
• The cocktail blending, wine tasting, scone making, meditation, sound therapy, wills and probate learning, video production schooling and make up bag detoxing workshops we’ve run. 
• Being able to simultaneously broadcast to my Zoomers from Sunday Wake Up! each week to include our two communities. 
• Still being able to contribute to charitable and environmental projects like tree planing, water aid, UK and international based charities. 

I am grateful for all your comments, messages and virtual support this year. However you’ve been involved with us thank you. I truly look forward to helping you more in 2021. Whether it’s a little inspiration in a blog post, a kick up the bum in a 1-2-1 coaching session or a collective hurrah at Fit Camp – I look forward to welcoming you back soon.

There will be no Friday with Heidi next week. No one needs to hear from me on Christmas Day. 

Enjoy your time off and a very happy Christmas to you all.