The 2014 word of the year was LIGHT.
Light. Fire. Torch. Energy.
As I wrote previously, 2014 was about finding the light within myself, and especially, within others. This year was about helping others to find their light – coaching, teaching, writing = helping. Finding my helper identity, if you will, after focusing on SOLO in the previous few years.
As Ray Bradbury put it: “Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.”
Three biggest lessons of the year:
1. I can’t help others, if they do not want to be helped
2. I have to stop asking permission to do my work well and/or to do my work my way. it IS my art.
3. I best help others not by holding their hand, but by challenging them to find their own strength
BUCKET LIST UPDATE:
2014
get to 1,000 Likes on my athlete Facebook page
visit Vancouver
do 10 kipping pull-ups in a row (15, actually!)
read at least 12 books in a year (actually read – 22)
lean on the Leaning Tower of Pisa
eat pizza at the oldest pizzeria in Naples, Italy
raise at least $1,000 for charity (NOT how I thought this would go down)
try parcour
visit a drive-in movie theatre (awesome way to celebrate my birthday!)
win a race (Toronto MudHero, 1st female, baby!)
Completed: 15
OTHER COOL SHIT:
- officiated my best friend’s wedding in Dominican Republic
- completed my first full year as a health coach at Precision Nutrition
- experimented with working remotely for the first time, and loved it (more to come next year!)
- became an admin for the largest obstacle racing FB group for women (>15,000 members)
- got my CrossFit L1 certification
- moved in with Italian
- finished another racing season without major injuries
- had the best gelato in the world
- finished Vermont Beast for the third time (four loops, technically, with the Ultra Beast in 2012)
- raised over $2,100 via Burpees for Jeff
- ran Tough Mudder blindfolded
- launched Operation Light Within - guided Rhonda in her Bruce Trail adventure and her first Tough Mudder
- crewed at the Death Race 2014 and finally finished the Death Race chronicles
- saw my name in a book - wrote a chapter for Down and Dirty: The Essential Training Guide for Obstacle Races and Mud Runs (edited by Matt B. Davis)
- became part of a documentary/web series
- spent a week in Boston during the marathon, and cheered on friends
- finally got to meet all of my colleagues in person at PN gathering
- spent three days exploring my Unique Abilities in a workshop along with other awesome health coaches
- met few people this year that truly blew my mind
- prepped a-client-turned-close-friend for a kick-ass photoshoot
- switched from PC to Mac
- participated in CrossFit Open again
- visited some awesome CrossFit boxes, including Calgary, Vancouver, Boston, Bologna and Milan
- attended CrossFit Regionals (as a spectator)
- attended my first physique show at Toronto Pro (as a spectator)
- went on my first ever girls only camping trip (no dead bodies!)
- completed Prison Break obstacle race blind folded, while training for Operation Light Within
- learned how to throw a spear better (thanks, Jamie!)
- went on a writing day retreat
- completed another 24-hour fast
- shifted from doing the Gorucks to shadowing the Gorucks - one in Boston, two in Toronto
- first time doing the Haliburton 26k Trail Race, came 2nd
- visited Dublin, Ireland
- spent three weeks in Italy
- learned SO much about what makes people tick
- became a much better coach
LESS COOL SHIT:
- gave up my woman cave condo
- cut back on teaching yoga to focus on work - actually, this is cool, but always hard to do less of what you love, in order to do what you love more
- discovered how fucked up my shoulders actually are
- had to step away from CrossFit as primary training (see above)
- dropped out of the Italian course
- witnessed some friends destroy themselves in various ways and was not able to do anything to help
- experienced some of the food-related anxiety morph its way into general anxiety
- got hit hard by the winter last year - first brush with seasonal affective disorder?
- saw what happens when people forget about their why, and get wrapped up in the money aspect of running a business
Another awesome year in the books. And as long as cool shit outweighs the less cool shit, it’s all good. :)
What are my three most important core beliefs?
1. living out loud
2. stumble along the way, yet learn from every stumble
3. tell the story
Was my year in alignment with these core beliefs?
YES!
YOUR TURN: Looking back on 2014, what do you think your word of the year was? Was it the year of "explore"? The year of "trust"? What about 2015? What word will you choose?
Thank you, 2014!
SOLO
*See my 2013 in review here.
