Man, this day has flown by!  Is there some sort of law in which birthdays speed by faster than regular days?  I meant to post something a few hours ago, but it would seem that the morning and early afternoon have already escaped me. Whoops.

I decided to enjoy some downtime earlier today by catching up on some of my favorite healthy living blogs.  I figured that because it’s my birthday, I could take a little time off from thinking so hard.  From working so hard.  But because that’s never the way that my brain works, reading these blogs actually got me thinking about just how much I’ve changed my life in this past year.

Last year on my birthday, I was…

…10 pounds heavier, and full of excuses for why I couldn’t lose that last little bit of weight I had been trying to lose for years. 

…desperately seeking a balanced healthy lifestyle.  True story: I found a lot of the blogs I was reading earlier today at this time last year by googling search terms like “balance” and “healthy living.”  At the time, I had no idea that so many people wrote about this stuff.  I was so sick of the cycle of feeling guilty when I would eat too much one day or skip a workout the next, and I was determined to find a way to enjoy my life without involving all of these negative emotions and putting so much pressure on myself. 

…asking a trainer at my gym for workout advice because I never knew what I should be doing when I went to the gym.

…worried I might never find out what I was “supposed” to be doing, frantically trying to determine which career path I should be on.

Suffice it to say, a lot has changed since then!  This year on my birthday, I am…

…not only lighter on the scale, but probably 1,000 pounds lighter mentally.  Yes, maintaining a weight loss is very hard work.  It is something that I deal with daily.  But like I’ve mentioned before, now I see each day as an opportunity to become a healthier person, rather than viewing this lifelong battle as a burden.  Learning to look at my situation that way took a huge weight off of my shoulders.

… happy to say that I think I’m closer than I’ve ever been to achieving that balance I’ve always craved (of course I’m only human, so I’m still not perfect), because reading about other people’s weight loss and/or maintenance journeys on their blogs really helped me to change my mindset.  I finally started believing that I could do this; I could be the person who enjoys a cookie without it leading to a binge, or who starts running because it makes me feel good, all while celebrating the good days quickly moving on from the bad days and setbacks along the way.

…being mentored by that very same trainer.  I will be eternally grateful for the opportunities that she has given me, and especially for believing in me even when I doubted myself.  In an ironic twist of fate, it was me who was training her last night, so that she could evaluate me before I start training clients at my gym.  She’s kicked my ass with many workouts, so it was fun to kick hers for a change

…finally feeling like I am on the right track with what I am supposed to be doing with my life.  Last year at this time I was so desperately seeking the one thing I was supposed to be doing, to be able to say to people, “I am a ____,” whenever they asked.  But I’m finally starting to realize that I will never be just one thing, because I’m just too curious and too interested in a lot of things to pick just one narrow path for myself and be content with that. 

Over the last 12 months I’ve really made an effort to pay attention to what I enjoy doing, and learn what fulfills me, to see where that leads me.  This is how I ended up teaching Zumba and deciding to become a personal trainer.  How it relates to the other parts of my life and my other interests is still evolving, but for the first time ever, I am excited to see where these paths take me, and how they are forging together along my journey.  I like to write, I like to help people.  I am creative, I am entrepreneurial.  I am always up for a challenge, and I love learning new things.  As long as I keep these qualities in mind as I seek out other opportunities, I will be living a fulfilling life.

I have come so far in this past year, and I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for me. Cheers to another year!

What about you?  If you reflect upon the last year of your life, what’s changed?  How are you different?  Any lessons learned or changes you’d like to make moving forward?  I’d love to hear about it! 

P.S.  Have you entered my giveaway yet?  Don’t forget that you get additional entries by leaving your comment on Facebook and Twitter!  Contest ends Friday at noon.