Year-End Check-In (a.k.a. How the Wheels Came Off)

The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round, then fall off, careening down a hill, taking out a van full of nuns and children from Make-A-Wish headed to Disneyland.

Somewhere around the time change, everything went sideways, and I mean everything. That one-hour shift might not seem like much on paper, but once the dogs’ schedule got completely wrecked, my sleep went with it. And once my sleep went, everything else followed. Gym sessions turned sporadic. Runs became “maybe tomorrow.” Meals stopped being planned and started being whatever was fastest and least offensive. Sometimes most offensive (I love cinnamon Life, and the boxes are small…no judgy!)

Basically, everything I had been doing just… collapsed.

And the blog? That went quiet too. Not because I didn’t care — but because it was honestly embarrassing to fall apart that spectacularly after being so consistent. Writing about showing up is a lot harder when you’re very clearly not.

The weird part is that the crash didn’t come from one big thing. It came from everything at once. I was trying to do the gym, supplemental workouts at home, work, trying to spin up a few side hustles, and track meals and macros all while pretending I had infinite energy and focus.

Turns out I don’t. It turns out I’m…..*gasp* human. Damnit.

I’ve been spending some time just existing, enjoying the holidays, and thinking about everything. One of the biggest wins was finally realizing I was doing too much. While I still have all of those things that I want to do, I’m not going to try to do them ALL at he same time. I have some big things going on this coming year, and will let y’all know when the time is right.

So here I am, doing a year-end check-in instead of a victory lap. I’m not making resolutions. I’m not announcing a comeback. And I’m definitely not pretending this next chapter is going to be clean and cinematic, unless one of you knows how to just do a montage and I start Act 3 all in shape and with my side hustles booming? Nope? Well fin, then I guess what I am going to do is try to get back to me. Simple, rebuilding some structure, and getting things back under control one piece at a time.

New year. Same me. Hopefully just a little wiser and a lot more self-aware.

And if you’ve had a year where things piled up, routines unraveled, and you quietly disappeared for a while, Welcome! Plenty of seats left on the struggle bus.

Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.