Red Light, Green Light, Send 2020 Out Right!
Written by Lalo Torres & Charissa Sutliff
Winter, by its traditional nature, is the time of hibernation, pause and reflection. It may be cliche, but this time of year is the time to “think of all that we are grateful for. A time to reflect on our year and to set new goals for the next brighter and even better year.” Well, if this year has taught us anything, no year will EVER turn out how we expect it to.
Side Note: If you are looking for a nice read, check out the book Greenlights by the very talented Matthew Mcconaughey, and it can’t be recommended enough! He eloquently gives you an insight of his life story and gives us tools on how to deal with life’s challenges, “If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges – how to get relative with the inevitable – you can enjoy a state of success I call ‘catching greenlights’”.
To use Mcconaughey’s metaphor of green lights, red lights, and yellow lights, this year has been dubbed the longest red light ever. You know that one red light that feels like it is taking FOREVERRRR? The one where you reallllllyyyy have to pee because you just downed your entire cold brew, and now you are stuck at the traffic light, and oh great, here comes the train, and your bladder is going to EXPLODE. Yup. That’s how some people would describe 2020.
But let’s pause for a bit. So, yeah, we all experienced a collective hardship this year or a “red light,” but let’s think about this. Let’s reflect. Once we push past the story of a collective red light experience, how has this year been for YOU? What was YOUR experience like this year? Sometimes we get caught up in the collective story that we forget to listen to our own story. Ask yourselves, how many red lights have you experienced this year? Do you feel like the red lights in your life have stopped you from achieving your life and fitness goals? Have you asked, “when will this end?! When am I going to catch a green light?!”
Here’s a not-so-secret secret. Complaining about a red light won’t make it turn green any faster. If anything, it makes the waiting even more agonizing. As much as it sucks to say, sometimes those red lights can be the best thing that ever happen to us. Don’t get me wrong, the red light itself can be terrible. But experiencing those obstacles, facing them, reflecting on them, and then applying what we learned from them, is not only how we get through them, but how we get better by them. They are a forced pause in life and an opportunity for us to get closer to achieving our dreams. They shape the direction of our future by forcing us to sit tight in the present.
So, whether it’s in fitness, work, or personal life, let’s try not to make red lights any more painful. We might not always catch those green lights, but we sure can control how we react to the red ones. Our New Year’s wish for you is not that you catch all the green lights in life, but that you also gain strength from the red.
With that being said, we invite you to reflect on this year and ask yourself some questions like…
How did I grow this year?
What is something I learned this year?
What blessings came into my life this year?
What is one takeaway from this year?
How are you different from from last year?
What is something you accomplished this year?
Then say (tell someone or write it down!) what you want to make out of 2021…
What do you want to accomplish?
What goals do you want to set?
What habits do you want to create?
What type of person do you want to be a year from now?
What is something deeply uncomfortable, maybe even terrifying, but life changing and truly growth promoting that you want to do?
Think about the different areas of your life as well. These things don’t have to just be in your health, fitness or nutrition. They can be financial, relational, occupational, self care, personal development, for funsies, etc. Even in health, fitness and nutrition it could be mindset related rather than a specific outcome. Schedule some time with yourself to sit down in a quiet place and reflect on these things!
Whatever goals you need help with in 2021, your Invictus coaches are here to help you, just let us know! Get started by downloading this FREE Goal Setting Workbook then drop us a line or an email with any questions!
