HELLO INTERNETS!
Happy to see that you're still out there. It's been a while! Congratulations on your marriages and babies and houses and school news. Bravo!
For those of you who don't know, I am a tax accountant for a public accounting firm. (I'm also a pro-puzzler, Disney enthusiast, and lover of cheese, but those things do not pay the bills. Unfortunately.) Since I do taxes by trade, there are some pretty important dates in the spring. April 15th? Yep, that's a big one. What you may not know is that there's also a major deadline for businesses on March 15th. And what you may not think about is that to get lots of tax returns (or extensions) filed for lots of businesses and people, we get busy around mid February. And as my first spring as a senior associate, I had to get all my admin/scheduling work done in January. Which is about the time I fell off the internets.
But I'm back! Now I'm not making any promises about this blog because, frankly, I probably won't keep them. Real talk. But I did want to let you know that I'm alive, so ta-da! Nails done, legs shaved, sunglasses on, human again.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
2014 Resolution Wrap Up
What a year it has been! As 2014 draws to a close, I am happy to report that I finally completed a new year's resolution! I completed one active event each month of 2014. Every kind of event from old favorites to my first bicycle ride to traipsing all over Israel to my first triathlon. And I learned so much and experienced so many new things along the way.
Here's a no brainer for you: training helps. Throughout the year, I was in all kinds of shape for the different events. When I was training regularly, I felt strong and confident and (obviously) finished with better results. When I had been a little lax on training (read: NOT training), I felt unprepared and struggled through the event. So guess what? Training and regular exercise makes a difference! Good thing you stopped by to gather that little nugget of wisdom.
Perhaps a more important lesson, I learned how to define my own success. The world bombards us with widely-accepted definitions: winning, power, fame, money, etc. For a series of races, winning would pretty clearly be considered success. But what else? In each ride, race, and event, there were thousands of people participating. Does that mean only a handful of those people each time are successful? Of course not. For me, there were a few "successes" throughout the year.
First, finishing. I tried a few new activities, and a couple of them made me pretty nervous. So the goal was
Another valuable lesson learned and practiced was the good ole "no excuses." One event, each month, for an entire year. No excuses. I didn't give up the time we got lost on a course, or the time I left my swim gear at home, or when the weather was particularly nasty. I had a goal I wanted to complete, and to make that happen, I couldn't make excuses. Good practice for a life lesson.
Third, I can't discount the self-awareness and self-confidence I am taking away from this experience. I learned to be proud of the finish lines I crossed, the time goals I met, and stepping out of my comfort zone. When the triathlon was going so terribly, I resigned myself to being in last place (womp womp) and set out to just finish and keep my chin up. I turned my negative thoughts around during my hardest event of the year, and told myself that I was capable and I would be proud of finishing. When we were lost on a bike course, I swallowed my panic and stuck it out on my bike to finish the ride. This year, I accomplished goals I hadn't even imagined setting on January 1st. And that is a pretty incredible feeling.
All in all, I count the year of 2014 a smashing success. Now I am ready and excited for the adventures that 2015 will bring!
Did you stick with your new year's resolution?
What did you learn in 2014?
Are you ready for the new year?
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