Well, it has been a while, and I thought I’d finally share a long overdue update on what’s been going on in my life and what I have in mind for this blog. And, before I dive in, I also want to thank you for taking the time to be here and read my posts. It’s hard to believe I started this website years ago, but like many endeavors we often start, it fell to the wayside as life got busy and my list of priorities didn’t include many creative pursuits. I mention prioritizing for a reason, because even while I’ve been quite busy at times, the practice of writing and creating content can be integrated into my other routines or intentionally scheduled like any other meeting or task. What helps with this of course, is believing in the importance of this goal and implementing consistent effort in the process – just as one does with training for an event, building a routine for school/work, or focusing on implementing better habits for our health. We prioritize getting it done, and we believe it is worth the effort. So, that is what I am working on with this blog and other platforms, especially since I genuinely enjoy it and want this to be an avenue that can serve to help inform and inspire others through sharing experiences.
On that note, I recently had the opportunity to travel to France to present on some of the research I have been involved with. I shared a bit on Instagram about how that trip ended with getting Covid, but prior to that unfortunate experience, I had really been enjoying my time in Paris and was able to see so much more of the city than I did during my first time there in 2014. I’m not sure why, but this visit felt quite different, and I gained a deeper appreciation for this beautiful city and would absolutely go back.
Some of the things that helped during this trip included being a little more centrally located and spending more time walking around and exploring on my own. Being able to move at a slower pace and just take in the scenery and wander around major sites on my own time when not in conference sessions was great. I also have to say, being able to use GPS on this trip made it so much easier to get around. While it is a bit of an additional expense, the decision comes down to what makes sense for you and whether the cost of that convenience will help to enhance your experience – and in this case, for me, it absolutely does.
While I plan to do a separate post (or three) about this trip, I must also mention here that I was also thrilled to have made it to another country – the Netherlands! Since it was so close and I wanted very much to add another destination on my itinerary, Amsterdam just made sense and was a place I’d always been curious to visit. Despite traveling during a pandemic (which of course, just creates a whole new level of complexity and unease), it was a smooth trip into the city, as was the eventual train ride to Paris for the conference. It was wonderful to experience the joy of travel again, and there is something uniquely thrilling about exploring a new place on foot, without any schedule, and just checking out whatever seems interesting.
Following my run-in with Covid toward the end of my trip, it did take a while to start feeling like myself again. I took some time once I was finally able to return home to continue to recover (and the trip home seemed to set me back a bit with the fatigue), and it was about another week before I was able to get back into working out. I definitely had to take it a little slower, too. Thankfully, I’m back to running again and getting in some good strength training sessions, and I’m in the process of deciding on some upcoming races. Earlier this year, I was finally able to do another 10k running race (pictured right), and it felt great to get back into this fun sport! While the thought of a full marathon feels almost impossible at the moment, it is a goal that my husband and I have had for a long time and plan to accomplish within the next year.
Before then, I’d like to do two half marathons that have been on my mind for a long while. Once I register for those, I plan to document the journey for this half-marathon prep and what I’ll be doing differently. Considering that progress toward this goal has already been challenging the last two years, it’s somewhat unnerving to put effort back into it and commit to posting about the process publicly. But, that’s part of what this blog and my IG are for, and hopefully it’s helpful for at least one other person out there, in addition to providing a little accountability for myself.
Lastly, as many of you know, I am in the process of working on my PhD, which is sort of a marathon in itself. I may eventually share more about this journey in the coming months, but at the moment, I’m not quite sure whether that topic aligns well with the rest of this blog and the overall theme here. We’ll see; it’s all a process and I’m going to be figuring it out as I go along. One thing I have learned is that waiting to have it all planned out “perfectly” and trying to get things “just right” actually does a wonderful job of getting nowhere.
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you’ll come back for more. Please be sure to subscribe, and feel free to drop a comment down below. What goals are you working toward? How do you move past the need to perfect something so that it gets done? I’d love to hear!