We have just started a new year, so ask yourself, what did you do this last year? 

Are you the same person you were at the start of last year? Have you changed your attitude? Let go of your hatred and bitterness? Did you cut out the people that weighed you down last year? Did you stop doing the negative things that plagued you?

Most people make new year’s resolutions and then don’t keep them. It’s never too late to change, even though last year is over and this year already started. You can still change right now, this minute, this second! 

What most people don’t understand is that you don’t need a special day to change, a specific hour, when you can do it right now. Don’t give up. There is always a chance to change yourself and your life.

Don’t say I’m too old, I am set in my ways. I can’t, or it won’t happen. Maybe you’re saying it’s because I’m a woman or that I’m too stupid….fill in the blanks with excuses. They are just that, excuses, just take action now! Being a winner doesn’t mean you always win. It means you never give up!

Champions are determined, and they are not quitters. That is why I love boxing so much because no matter how bloody, how beat up, or even how many times you may get knocked down, they keep fighting. They never give up because you never know with just that one punch. You can knock your opponent out and come out the winner.

One of my favorite Youtube videos is about these two marathon runners. They are neck in neck in the race, and when they are thisclose to the finish line, one falls and trips the other one. Their legs are like jello. They keep trying to stand, yet they can’t. They keep falling back down, over and over. Try as they may, they can’t get up, then one of them starts to crawl to the finish line, the other one sees this and starts crawling right behind her.

She makes it to the finish line, and then she reaches out and grabs the other one’s hand and helps her cross it as well. That is a champion! It didn’t matter what her timing was. It was just a matter that she finished. Nothing was going to stop her even if she had to crawl…now that is determination.

When I was doing my triathlon, I broke my toe the day before. That morning, as the race started, I had gotten stung in the ass by a sea of huge jellyfish. As I was running the last leg of the race, ass burning, toe killing me, the skies opened up and lighting and thunderstorms rained down on me. I didn’t care because I was determined to finish. I raised my fist to the sky and shouted, “Is that all you got because I am not giving up!”

Like a crazy woman, I ran and screamed. I had gone through too much to get here. I had endured a horrible marriage and an ugly divorce. I lost my job and started my own company. I moved into my own place just 2 days before this, so this meant something to me. I was doing something I never thought I could, and damn it, I was going to finish it. Even if it killed me or I had to crawl across that finish line.

I finally crossed the finish line, and just as I did, the rain stopped, and the sun shone on my face. It was one of my proudest moments. I did this despite the fact that I was afraid of swimming and sucked at it. In spite of that I hated to run and that all this shit happened to me in the last few years, I didn’t quit. I finished what I started out to do! That made me a winner. That I placed 3 in my age group, well that was just the icing on my cake, which by the way, was my birthday that weekend and I turned 49, all of it just made it that much sweeter.

They say the greatest accomplishment in life is to earn something, not to have it be given to you. It’s true, when you know you did it all by yourself. Yes, you did it, what you thought you couldn’t do, that is an incredible feeling.

So today, my friends, with the first few days of 2024, don’t wait until the ball drops next year to look back and have regrets. Change your life right now, this second, because it’s never too late to change.

Happy New Year to all of you… Thank you so much for your continuing support for me and my blog. I wish you health, peace, and joy for the new year and the peace of mind to know anything is possible if you believe……

“Be the change you want to see,”

@TreadmillTreats