Here's what I set out to do at the beginning of this year:
What are my three most important core beliefs?
freedom
personal development and growth
serving others
Was my year in alignment with these core beliefs?
Yes, for the most part. One of the biggest realizations of this year was just how important the core belief of "freedom" is to me. Going forward, I will be focusing on that one above all others.
BUCKET LIST UPDATE:
do the SkyWalk around CN tower
overhead squat 100lb
reach 100,000 views in a year on my blog
participate in a free hugs campaign
go on a solo camping trip and read Thoreau's Walden (not exactly camping, but I did live in a small room in Nicaragua on the beach, while reading it, so I'll go with it)
Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls - great day with an old friend
see an active volcano - smoky Conception on Ometepe island, which I hope to climb this year
participate in obstacle race outside of Canada/US
run the Great Canadian Death Race in Alberta (team relay)
participate in OCR World Championships
write a paid article for a magazine
finish my year-long coaching certification (Precision Nutrition L2)
eat local (100 miles) for a month
watch a movie at TIFF
run across the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, CA
watch a Shakespeare play in Stratford, ONMissions completed: 17 The video that my dear friend Lisa put together to capture the Free Hugs Campaign undoubtedly takes the cake among all the cool shit I have done this year. Thank you so much, Lis! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV55X1zm8K8
There were couple of things that I started, but did not finish.
read "Origin of Species" Omg, this thing is dry. I got through 20 pages or so in the beginning of the year, and that was it. I think I will have to tackle it the same way I tackled "Walden" - take it with me to Nicaragua as the only book, divide up the number of pages in the book by the number of days I am there, and aim to get through that number every single day.
write my personal mission statement I'm close! I was able to identify some of the large themes, and the big picture IS emerging. In fact, I am very happy with my progress on this one.
get married Not that I was planning to get married in 2015, but it was the year where I made progress towards this one. :) Thanks to Italian, who proposed earlier this year. So, I am checking this one off in 2016, ladies and gentlemen.
be able to tell merlot from shiraz Probably not yet. But, I am significantly less clueless about red wines than I have been a year ago. I think I may be able to do that by the end of the year - I am dubbing this Operation Wine Snob In Training.
read the main works of the Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse Still pretty far from being done, and I think the only book I finished this year from this list is "Waking Up" by Sam Harris. It got nebulous at times, but I enjoyed it overall.
go on a West Coast road trip - drive from Vancouver to San Jose Not quite. But I have driven from San Francisco to San Diego earlier this year, covering a big chunk of that shoreline.
have a logo designed I actually launched this process, and got to a point of evaluating a number of different options. None of them were what I wanted. In fact, I got pretty bummed out with this whole thing. Yet... in retrospect, this was a very helpful process to go through, as it helped me understand my own brand more clearly.
OTHER COOL SHIT:
travelled to Nicaragua, first experiment at remote work outside of US/Canada
learned a lot about my own workflow
got my CrossFit Mobility certification
PR'd my weighted pull-up at 53lb
PR'd my squat clean at 175lb
finally learned how to climb a rope, using J-hook technique
got a spin bike for my home office
returned to more regular yoga practice
volunteered at an unnamed event in Vermont
replicated my strict pull-up max (have not lost any strength!)
adopted two awesome cats
wrote more (the most productive year yet)
finally started a newsletter for my readers
experimented with Periscope (see my Getting Ready for Change series here)
visited some more awesome CrossFit boxes, including Edmonton, Lindsay, San Diego, and Stoney Creek with Dr. John Berardi
was interviewed on two podcasts (Obstacle Dominator and Thinner in 30)
started the Reading Roundup series on the blog
spent some quality time with my BFF in Edmonton, AB
felt more at peace with my body than ever before
NOT COOL SHIT:
continued to struggle with lack of shoulder mobility
found out that jammed rib feels like you are having a heart attack
experienced at least two lower back spasms (body is hinting at some repositioning work, me thinks)
gave up teaching my weekly yoga classes to concentrate on coaching (right move, but still sad)
bruised (fractured?) tailbone at Spartan World Championships 2015, so the sit-ups and Ab Ripper X are out for... a while
seasonal affective depression
at times struggled with boredom and meaning (please tell me I am not the only one)
realized how much of my anxiety is entirely self-created (maybe all of it?)
got disillusioned and disappointed in something and someone I used to believe inYOUR TURN: Looking back on 2015, what do you think your word of the year was? What about 2016? What word will you choose?
2013 in review Hugs, SOLO