I think it’s obvious that the best part of my 2014 had nothing to do with this blog, fitness, food, or work.
Tim and I got engaged smack in the middle of a year we’ve dubbed as our year of weddings. Even though we had 6 weddings in 2012 and 7 weddings in 2013, we had 8 in 2014 (one was in Missouri that only Tim could make it to). So much of last year was spent celebrating eight amazing couples, including some of my best friends in the whole world. It got a bit crazy at times, and I’m still not quite sure how we did it, but I wouldn’t change it. We are lucky to have so many wonderful friends in our lives, and we created so many memories during all the showers, bachelorette and bachelor parties, rehearsal dinners, and weddings that filled our latter part of the year. I’m only sad that I didn’t have the chance to recap each wedding and wedding related event how I would have liked to on F&F!
Aside from all the wedding fun, some of my other favorite parts of last year include:
A winter weekend getaway with Perfect Vermont,
my April trip to Chicago with Ashley and Jen,
tons of other gym friend fun,
running my first obstacle 5k,
a Memorial Day getaway to Falmouth,
multiple New Balance Girls Night Outs with blog friends and all the other fun blog stuff I got to do this year,
going to the Boston Magazine health and wellness retreat,
having a week off over the 4th of July to spend at home with each other,
becoming an official wellness coordinator at work,
spending my 29th birthday in Newburyport,
picking our wedding venue,
and spending some time in our happy place.
That’s what comes to mind first.
The time spent with Tim.
The time spent with all our friends.
And the time spent with family.
The things that DON’T come to mind right away when I think about last year?
–The nights worrying about getting everything done
–The time spent feeling anxious about my messy apartment
–My type A to do lists
–All the stress and frustration from work
–Feeling like I *should* post something on F&F every day
You guys get the idea. And yet, I know that I wasted so many nights just worrying, worrying again, and then worrying some more. I get so wrapped up in this idea of perfection, being able to do it all, and being able to do it all RIGHT NOW. It’s crippling sometimes. When you look at someone else’s highlight reel and think they must have their shit so perfectly together and organized, let me tell you, it’s not always the case. So many people ask me how I do it all, and you know what? I don’t. I make sacrifices. I have bad days.
I mess up.
So many of the pictures from last year capture the feelings we were feeling at the very moment the camera went off. They show us living in the moment. And I want to do more of that for the rest of 2015. I want to stop thinking about the next place I have to be, the next meal I need to prepare, and the next thing I have to do. I don’t want to feel bogged down by too many commitments, emails, and too many people asking me to do things. I want to put my phone down. I want to leave work undone if it’s too stressful at the moment. I want to leave the dishes in the sink and a let a blog post go unwritten.
I want to create more space and just enjoy being present.
I want to plan our wedding and actually relish in the experience together, not rush it.
But I know I can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.
I just need to remind myself that when I look back like I enjoy doing around this time each year, it’s not all the time spent worrying I’m going to remember.
What I’m going to remember are all the times truly spent living in the moment.
Readers, let’s chat! What are your tips for being present and living in the moment? How do you control endless worrying or always thinking about what’s next on your to do list?
Love this! And I always love your recap posts, because you look like you’re just having so much fun in every picture. Truly living in the moment 🙂 Sometimes I get really caught up in work stress, and end up taking it home with me when I don’t want to. I have to step back and remind myself that everything will work out, even if I’m not in complete control of it. It can be so easy to let days at a time go by without ever really being present in each moment, but I really tried to slow down last year while we were planning our wedding too. It helped!
I’m glad to hear that slowing down helped you during your wedding planning process! We are in full force right now, so I need to let go of some other things for the time being. Have a great weekend, Steph!
Over the years in my day job I’ve had to learn a lot of skills for leaving work at work. The best one for me, that translates to every day worry is a visualization/meditative technique. Basically, when you catch yourself worrying, picture a stop sign. Stop! Then visualize the place/ time you will address whatever it is. Then leave your worry there! It takes practice but only takes a few seconds to do.
Oooo, I like this a lot, Kristen! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I often want to do everything on my list and even if I manage to do it all I will look for more things to add on. More is not better! 😉
Amen!
Good morning,
I was just curious as to how you became a wellness coordinator at your work? Did they provide you the education you needed or did you research that on your own? I am very interested in the whole corporate wellness world and trying to find out how to go about it.
Thank you very much and always love reading your posts!
Sarah Lettow
HR Coordinator
[CSM Group]
Direct (269) 488-6600
Cell (269) 568-8116
Fax (269) 746-5699
http://www.csmgroup.com
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
Hi Sarah, email me at fitnessandfeta@gmail.com! Happy to chat there about my transition. Thanks!
LOVE this post! And great message to let things go because at the end of the day no one will say remember the work deadline that you were two hours late on. It’s about living life, and I need to go more of that this year too!
Thanks, Kelly! You are so right. Nobody ever remembers the stuff that seems SO stressful at the time!
I love this SO much! I get caught up in the “blogger trap” of wanting to capture and share every moment sometimes instead of just living it. I am guilty of worrying about all the things you mentioned too, and forgetting about all that I have to be thankful for. Thanks for this post – I needed it today! I can’t wait to read all about your wedding planning and how 2015 plays out for you, friend!
Thanks, Lindsay! I’m glad this post was helpful for you on Wednesday. 🙂
I stopped blogging as much. It’s honestly so much better just LIVING (even if most of the time ‘living’ just means relaxing around the house). And I stopped trying to please others- I dont have the mental and physical time to worry about how I am with others- I need to focus on me first!
Good for you, Jen! I don’t necessarily want to stop blogging, I just want to be able to put aside the thoughts about “I really SHOULD blog” when they come up. I definitely got better about the whole trying to please other thing though – it’s just not worth it, and we can’t always make everyone happy!
PS. Miss you!
Great, great post! I struggle so much with staying present, too, and tend to get so caught up in my thoughts. Writing in a journal (my gratitude journal!) and meditating–even for just a few minutes each day–help a lot
Thank you! I started a gratitude journal when I was participating in Neghar Fonooni’s Fall Freedom challenge, but I admittedly stopped once the challenge was done. It was helping me feel more present… gotta start one back up again!
Great post! I can’t exactly pinpoint when I made the ‘living in the moment’ change but, it was sometime around when I turned 29. Then, in my 30th year, I made a more conscious commitment to do it more. And now, at 31, I think I’ve achieved a happy balance. I’m definitely still a super-planner (I may or may not have my google calendar planned out through year-end…), however, I find myself enjoying all these great plans much more. Maybe it’s because I had a crazy years of life-event highs and lows, maybe it’s because I made a more conscious effort, or maybe it’s because I feel so busy I forget about my need to document. Realistically, it’s probably all 3. Either way, keep making a conscious effort and enjoy those moments – it’s so worth it!
Thank you for sharing, friend! Glad to hear that it’s an evolving process. 🙂
This kinda made me cry! Lately I’ve been procrastinating on things I don’t want to do and not cleaning as much…it sounds bad but I’m so happy!! It’s still a work in progress though so thanks for the reminder!
Didn’t mean to make you teary, friend! I am just trying to find a happy medium!
Thank you,Athena…Αθηνά!! Congratulations for your engagement, even now..
Aw, thank you!