Celebrating 2024

Happy 2025! 🥳

This month, I am taking a bit of a look back on last year.

Veronica, from SPIN Ideas, who helps me write these blogs, has challenged me to write about 3 things I celebrate and 3 things I would do differently.
At first, I wasn’t sure I would be able to do this as I don’t really make a habit of looking back, but I said I would give it a try.

Here is what I discovered after doing the reflection:

1. Full Personal Training schedule
   My first thing to celebrate is a business achievement. I finished 2024 with a full schedule of personal training clients. While I always have enough work, I often have the feeling I have time for another 1 or 2 clients.
   As I sit on the 2nd of January writing this with a lot of clients still away, next week, I am jumping into the year full speed ahead. These are not New Year’s clients; these are existing clients. I am both proud of myself for having a successful business and also having to get myself prepared to get back into the swing of things after a week off, followed by a relatively quiet week.

2. Completion of Menostrength course
   I bought the menostrength course as an add-on to the “3rd Age Women” course a few years ago. I finally finished the 3rd age course last year. These courses are to be followed at your own pace, which is great but I have had a tendency to procrastinate.
   I did decide earlier in the year that I would complete it, but as we were getting later into the year and I had a busier schedule (see point 1), I didn’t think I would make it. A lot of the course is delivered by video, and I started to squeeze in watching them between personal training sessions and my own training sessions, and before I knew it, I had made it through all the work. I even surprised myself. Then I passed the test!

3. Wednesday Strength and Movement Class
   This is a mix of business and personal. My Wednesday strength and movement class is a class I have run for about 15 years. We started back then at 10 am, but now it is at 9 am.
   I really enjoy this class as it is a nice group of people who workout, but we get a bit of socialising in too. The celebration is that during 2024 we have had a return of many people who have worked with me in the past. The group is larger now and I love that the existing members welcome those coming into the group. There is often a group going out for a coffee afterwards, and everyone is invited. So, if you are a member of that group, thanks for making it a big success this year. If you want to be a part of it, it is on Wednesdays at 09:00 in the Vondelpark. If you can’t make it but still want to train with me, I have an online session on Mondays at 12:00. See more info here.

   OK, now for those things I would have done differently:

1. Earlier treatment for Achilles tendon
   If you have seen my recent newsletters and blogs, you may have seen that I have had an Achilles injury. I chose to keep doing my racing. That didn’t make the injury worse, but it also slowed down my progress in getting it better. I don’t regret carrying on with the racing, but what I would have done differently would have been to seek help earlier. I put off going to the physio when it was first niggling me, keeping the positive attitude that it would be fine. Anyway, it is a lot better now, so I made it in the end.

2. Cancelling my Thursday online classes
   Sometimes, you have to decide that something isn’t working. Having two online classes on a Thursday at 07:00 and 19:15 came out of lockdown. I really enjoyed teaching these classes, and the people who joined the class were a joy to work with. I really didn’t want to stop the class because I didn’t want to let the participants down. But the numbers were low and on Thursday evening, the class was at 19:15 was a challenge for me as I would come home, chill, have dinner and then have to remotivate myself to start again. Now that I have cancelled them, it has improved my life and business. By cancelling my 7am class (that I did at home) I can now work in the gym at both 7am and 8am. I now find I am more rested by cancelling the 19:15. It was hard for me to admit that something wasn’t working; there is that feeling of failure, but in the end, I actually wish I had done it sooner.

3. Take more holidays
   This might resonate with you if you are reading this and are self-employed. Even though you should set your business up so you can take holidays, there is still the feeling that when you are not working, you are not earning money. When I look back on last year, we had some trips away, but I didn’t take a full Monday to Friday off until Christmas week, and I worked 2 public holidays. That’s not to say I didn’t have some quieter weeks and a few long weekends (some including triathlons/training). We left on Tuesday for Christmas, and the temptation to work on the Monday and train as many people as were available was really strong. But by taking it off and having an extra day at home first was really nice. I was able to do some things around the house that brought some peace, and I was also able to get my nails done for Christmas and have a massage. So, even though I love my job, I do think I should have taken a bit more time away from it last year to allow me to recharge and rest.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my reflections on last year. I am curious to know: do you also take some time to celebrate and think about how you would do things differently? Let me know, I would love to hear from you!

This month, we are not doing a client highlight. Instead, I wanted to tell you about my Christmas holiday in Scotland. I talked about this during my Monday online strength and movement session, and one participant commented that she liked it as a tip even though I hadn’t really intended to do so. So, I decided to share it with you as well.

We mostly all have treats and specific foods we like when we celebrate Christmas, which are traditions that usually bring back happy childhood memories. I told the group I ate one of everything you might consider high calorie/sugar dense. So, while visiting my family, I had one mincemeat pie, one piece of Christmas cake and one piece of Christmas pudding. Then, I was done with ensuring I had a taste of Christmas without overindulging.
Next time you find yourself at a big dinner table, party, or get-together, you could apply the same principle: have one of each and stop. This way, you can enjoy the food but not overdo it.