I don’t know about any of you, but when September hits that always feels like a beginning to me.  I think between the change of season from hot and lazy to cool and invigorating it wakes me up, and it”s also my birthday month!  I was just reading a GREAT article here on mindbodygreen that really woke me up to how far I have come since January.. really since October of last year!

Last September, the chance to take place in a 200 hr Yoga teacher training came my way.  It was a very stressful decision as it was costly, 3 hours a way and 10 weekends off from work and my girls.  (it took place 20 hours over the course of 10 weekends, being in the hair industry I work on Saturdays).  A friend of mine knowing how I have wanted this for a long time pushed me into signing up.. It started mid October.  That is one BIG accomplishment for me to cross off my list!  The fear of speaking in front of people is always HUGE to me.. I used to turn purple waitressing if a table of 6 would all turn and look at me at the same time.. In January of this year, I put it out there to some people I trust that I would like to practice teach if anyone was interested.  Immediately 6 people signed up.  SO I not only did that, but somehow that evolved into a regular Sunday class that has anywhere from 5-10 people (its a small gym:))!

Lately I had been staring at alot of things which are NOT working in my life or have changed drastically that I wasn’t prepared for (boyfriend moving across country, girls flying into the teen years and high school.)  I have been feeling sorry for myself and left behind.  This article made me stop and see just how much I have accomplished this year, but ALSO the strength and calm I have deep inside me that keeps me moving forward even when the times are not how I wish them to be.  To great friends on line wrote articles about moving forward just recently Lindsay  and Kallifollowed her lead .  Both of these women inspire me daily and I hope you will check them out!  Another goal.. that I honestly thought I would NEVER achieve was getting to meet Kalli as we connected a few years back, but she lives in California.  The one positive of my boyfriend moving out there was that she and I not only got to meet, but share that glass of wine we had talked of doing!  YAH!! ( I wanted to add the picture of us here, but something is screwy with this computer right now:( )

A big part of the article on finishing the year strong was forgiving self.  Letting go of what’s not working and move on.  I had recently had a goal of adding another yoga class to my weekly schedule.  I was trying to so hard to make it happen, but the only day that seemed feasible was my one and only day a week I can carve out for myself when lucky.. so I was committing to this extra class, but not feeling good about it.. I realized that now is not the time to add more to my already busy life.  It is time to chip away some things.  It is okay that I only teach once a week.  Last year at this time I didn’t even think I would be doing that!!   Who knows what the next year or so will bring?  RIght now it is okay to teach once a week and have some time to celebrate all my hard earned successes!   Another thing on the list of finishing strong was create boundaries for health and well-being that NOONE can cross.  This is a huge one as I felt guilty backing out of the Friday thing and almost committed to Yes.. when I realized that was keeping someone from being angry with me possibly and not a boundary for my well-being. The article states “creating personal boundaries can be the single most transformational  action you take this year.”   Right now I need that time for me to relax, settle in, let life marinade inside of me.  That may change come January.  Only time will tell. I just know that right now, I needed to say no.  It was hard to do, but I needed to be clear on it.    So I said no, then I dropped the guilt right then an there.. and it felt GOOD.

As we enter fall, I urge you to take an afternoon or even just an hour and look back to where you were last year at this time, or January and see what has unfolded that you haven’t given yourself credit for and see where you are in terms of your goals.  Where can you fine tune them, let some go, create new ones?  Where do you need to become clear and strong on your boundaries for health and well-being?  The beauty of being human is we can change our minds!!

please share with me what you have accomplished this year that you didn’t even realize or give yourself credit for!!