My Journey With Health And Fitness – Welcome 2026

I was out on my usual walk this morning and having a great time feeding all the kitties. Today was the first time on this trip that I think I fed almost all of them. Then I got to the dreaded corner and there he was, the aggressive coati. Now coatis normally hang out in packs but not this guy, he’s always on his own. I’ve run into him before and he scares the crap out of me. This morning he snuck up on me and was only about a foot away when I saw him. I was holding one of my water bottles at the time so immediately threw it at him. That distracted him long enough that I was able to pull the marshmallows out of my pocket and throw them to the opposite side of the street. He of course went chasing after them allowing me to grab my water bottle and run as quickly as possible to around the corner. Then I saw something coming up to me out of the corner of my eye and I let out a little scream. Turns out it was the ginger from my trio of cats. He got a big handful of treats because I was so relieved.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I find them to be pointless. Instead, I set goals for myself. And as always I set goals that are achievable and positive. They are pretty simple, at least 3 runs per week, online classes 5 times a week while at the condo, minimum 2 hours of walking/running daily, less alcohol, reducing carbs and back to working on my Spanish every day. Ok, that seems to be a lot but really, it isn’t. What I also need to do is going back to journaling everything because the way my brain works is I need to see it written down so that I can track and analyze what I have done. That’s what helps me keep accountable.

I also always use the start of the year to both reflect on what I have done during the previous year and what I want to do in the coming year. Last year I did a lot of traveling both to the condo as well as doing a cruise and a trip to a convention where I got to do a few days of touring around our Provincial capital. I’m proud of the volunteer work that I did as I know it makes such a difference. I think what I really appreciated was having 3 full weeks on my own at the condo. I haven’t been on my own anywhere in the past few years so this was kind of a mental break.

This coming year is going to look almost the same when it comes to trips to the condo. The game plan is my sister and I spend 3 weeks here in April (that was also last year’s plan until she fell and broke her kneecap hence me spending time here on my own) and then the regular trips here with my husband. I look forward to continuing my volunteer work and am hoping to pick up a little more contract projects. I only got 1 trip to the lake last season so this year I am hoping to get up there as much as possible.

There is 1 big thing that is happening this year. As a matter of fact, it occurs a week today, I turn 60. I’m having a bit of a problem with reconciling that number to how I feel which is definitely not 60. Then I have to ask myself, what does 60 feel like? Well if it is that I’m fortunate to have a life in which I feel happy and secure, my life has been like that for a while now. I enjoy my semi-retirement, am fortunate to have more than 1 recreational properties and I have a great network of friends. I guess that means bring on 60, I’m ok with it.

So to all of you reading this, may 2026 bring you all that you wish for. I hope you all are happy and healthy and reach the goals you have set for the year.