2017 - A Year of Change and Challenge

I think this year has been an interesting one for many people. On the wider scale of things, in terms of the change that is gradually happening to our country and across the world, I think we are definitely in the middle of something pretty big.

With 2018 starting tomorrow, the prospect of a New Year brings about a lot of reflection, and I’m going to share a few of my ups, downs and discoveries from the past year.

Because this has probably been one of the toughest years of my life so far.

With many positive changes and difficult challenges along the way. I was in a completely different place this time last year, compared to where I am now. Which isn’t a bad thing because this has been a year of self-discovery on many levels.

Let’s start (briefly) with my personal life. During the summer I came out of a relationship, which at the time completely flipped my world on its head. And I have to give a massive thank you to my friends and family who were there pick me up, and help me come out the other end feeling stronger and happier as a person. While it ended fairly amicably, it wasn’t my decision and it took a while to come to terms with it. Looking back, I now see it was probably the right decision for us both. It forced me to, or gave me the chance to go out and do things just for me. To take things a bit less seriously and let myself have more fun. To realise what I want to do and learn to love myself for who I am, not how others see me. While being in a couple and having that person there to love is great, you don’t need to be in love with someone else to love yourself.

I also moved flats 3 times, which was a nuisance but it was something I had to get on with. While packing, you find things that have good memories, emotional memories and some things that no longer mean anything or give you joy. We hold onto things for various reasons. But moving from place to place gave me the chance to hold onto those ‘physical’ objects and things I wanted to keep, and get rid of the material things that I knew I no longer needed or wanted. When things just become things, is it really benefiting you?

Physically, I’ve changed the way I’ve exercised and trained compared to the years of dance training my body was used to. I used to dance 6-8 hours a day, now I might only do one dance class every fortnight/month. This happened mainly because I lost my love for dancing. Something that was difficult to deal with seeing as I’d devoted years of training to it. I’m going to right another blog post about this more in depth, but I’ve now regained that buzz and need to dance again and it feels amazing.

However, I have enjoyed trying different ways of moving and challenging my body, and becoming stronger and fitter in a new way. I completed my first ever marathon, which was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Not necessarily just the marathon itself, but the training leading upto it is bloody hard work and time consuming. But it sparked my love for running and with two half marathons already planned for the Spring, I’m looking forward to building up those miles again.

One of my biggest challenges was starting my new career as a Self-Employed Personal Trainer. Before I started, I don’t think I realised how big of a challenge it was actually going to be. This was my first full year out of education and full-time dance training since I started primary school. The actual training to become a PT wasn’t the hard bit.

Building up a business, going out to get clients, marketing, keeping on track with admin, the long hours, meal prep, adapting to different people’s characters and physical capabilities, having confidence in my delivery and instruction…..

These are all things that took a while to get used to, become comfortable with and make part of my new life. To say it has been a massive learning curve is an understatement. But thankfully with the advice from others in the industry and patience with myself, I think I am definitely on my way to building my success. Because I am still learning. I don’t know everything that can help every client I meet. But as I go into 2018, I aim to continue learning more, so I can give my clients the best experience and knowledge to help them in any way I can. It is a job I love and get so much joy and satisfaction from, and I can’t wait to keep progressing through it!

So what lies ahead for 2018? Well who knows, but if the the past year has taught me anything is that change is good, no matter how challenging it may seem at the time. If we resist change too much, it can limit our chance for growth and reaching our full potential. While I don't have any set New Years Resolutions for this year, here are my Golden Rules for the year ahead:

I will continue to enjoying moving, exercising and challenging my body.

I will appreciate and spend more time with the people that matter.

I will dance more

I will say yes.

I will explore new places.

I will do my bit to care for the world we live in.

I will make decisions based on how they affect my own happiness.

I will have fun.

And with that, I hope you all have a very Happy New Year!

Eilidh Brown

Simply Moving Personal Training