I think it is safe to say that a lot of us are spending some of our precious time thinking about all of the "what ifs" right now. What if Covid never hit last year and we did not need to cancel an incredibly important event of my life that I had scheduled last year What if I had used the extra time at home to focus on my health. What if I could go back and do it all again? I think every single one of us thinks this way at some point or another. I myself and incredibly guilty of this. I talked last week about mental health and shared my experience with how some things had been taking a toll on me last week, and today I wanted to continue forward with a similar theme. What if we had done so many things differently last year?

Personally there are a lot of things I would have changed about the last year. In so many ways it felt like a wasted year. It was filled with the same mundane tasks day after day with very little to change it up since we were, and still are in some ways, very limited with how we could change things up. Now the entire time I tried my best to keep this page positive and share ways to stay positive throughout, but I only recently realized I was not actually taking my own advice through all of that time. For one I really struggled with my weight, making good food choices, and working out completely fell on the backburner. I am to this day struggling to find the motivation I had pre-Covid, but working on it. I can very easily say if I could go back I would have done everything in my power to make sure that motivation was never lost. Genuinely what was accomplished last year? On the surface, the answer to that question seems to be pretty much nothing. That is my very first gut reaction, but when I really sit to think about things, that is so far from the truth.

First and foremost, I did my part to not spread the virus to the ones I love, managed to not get sick myself, have the first vaccine in me, and overall managed to stay healthy. Now I am not here to get into the Covid debates, push a vaccine, or anything political of the sorts that came out of this pandemic, but overall my point is that I want you to remember that if you are feeling a similar way, lacking any pride in accomplishments from the past 12-14 months, I want you to first and foremost remember you are still here! You are still pushing through day to day life, even if just barely, and a year into this madness you are getting by. If you are like me and are disappointed in their weight and lack of progress over the past year, remember that your body has literally carried you through a year of a GLOBAL PANDEMIC and everything that came along with that for you personally.

Stepping away from the weight aspect of things, there are still plenty of other bright sides I can find. Anyone that knows me personally, and I believe I even mentioned here before, that I was fully set to move into my own place last spring. Covid obviously prevented that from happening due to restrictions with viewing apartments and a lack of availability, and just some personal reasons as well. This was a blessing in disguise. Firstly had I been at an apartment by myself at the start of lockdown in my state, and I would have literally no social interaction at all, I fear what my mental health would have looked liked at this point in the pandemic. Being quarantined with family, although sure we ticked each other off at times, was so much better than being stuck in an apartment by myself not being able to visit anyone. Had I moved out then I wouldn't be moving into the adorable place I am going to be moving into next month either. Truly that is something that worked out for the best.

Overall I want you all to remember to count your blessings. I think every last one of us is mourning something from the last year. Do your best to find the positive in that. As any of you that have read this page before knows, I am a firm believer in the everything happens for a reason philosophy. Perhaps this entire pandemic happened to teach us all as a human race some humility. If that is the case I think it is pretty clear to see which ones of us are lacking in that department. Maybe the past year was the universe setting all the dominos into place and once this is all behind us, the first will fall causing a chain reaction of blessings in every single one of our lives. Try your best to look on the bright side. Choose to have faith. Choose to forgive yourself for where you may have messed up last year, and remember to thank yourself for getting you to this very moment. Look back, but only for long enough to improve your path towards the future.