We know what you’re thinking! Those TTH girls are not shy at telling us what they think we should be making New Year’s Resolutions about… what about them making a few of their own?! So, in the interests of practicing what we preach… here goes.
Number 1… 2018 is going to be just a little less crazy. What???!!! Could it be that the lycra-clad Dynamic Duo are planning to slow down? Er… nope! In the words of one philosopher, our plan for this year is to ‘stop and smell the roses’ occasionally… to take time to properly appreciate the life we are soooooo lucky to live. There was a moment during our 50k run along the Great Ocean Road earlier this year when we just sat on a cliff’s edge and took a minute or two to breathe in the spectacular beauty of the dramatic landscape we had been trying to visualise from the day we first read about it. We want more of those moments. (We of course ate a sandwich too!)
The pace of our lives is set on auto pilot at a million miles an hour, rushing here and there from appointment to class to blog post to the next date in the diary and we can’t see that changing. Our famous challenges will multiply in number. We only choose adventures that are sure to test us so when it comes to better appreciating them, we need to factor in some time to soak up the sheer pleasure and satisfaction and, more importantly, to draw on each experience to learn and grow from them. After the Great Ocean Road 50k in November, we spent a few days chilling and getting to know Melbourne. Result?… we want to go back to see more of Australia. ‘Live and learn’ is the motto for 2018.
The best Resolutions are the ones you keep for life… the changes that change the way you look at life… the promises you want to keep because they make life better. So, there is no fasting, no tee totalling, no hair dying, no dramatic shifts in direction among our New Year’s Resolutions… just stuff we always meant to do and may just do forever now.
1) Read More
We are forever telling each other we need to know more. Knowledge is power. Getting an education is not just about sitting exams and signing up to courses (we still wake up in the middle of the night with bad dreams about not doing enough revision!). You don’t need a 1st class honours degree from Oxford to be smart and savvy. Just putting aside some time to answer those questions that each day throws up is time in education. We want to learn more – not just about running or fitness or nutrition, but also about life and living. People talk about life ‘skills’… well, most skills are learnt through research and practice. We both have open minds and thriving imaginations (don’t ask!!) but the brain cells need exercise and conditioning just like the body muscles. Reading puts the grey matter to work, and tones and shapes the mind. It doesn’t have to be an encyclopedia or a Booker Prize-winning novel, you can find plenty of worthwhile reading matter on your favourite search engine, but committing to a book and disappearing into the writer’s mind is a Resolution worth making. You don’t have to agree or even like what they have put down on paper but new ideas and inspirations are bound to fall off the page and into your mind set. So… quiet please E, H is reading. Our ‘to read list’ is coming soon!
2) Communicate More
H, meet E. E, meet H! For two people that live under the same roof, we can sometimes go a surprisingly long time without talking to each other. No, not through sulks or rows… so far, so good on that front (although we could fall out over Taron Egerton!). We are constant companions and occasional strangers. TTH is a joint venture, a joint vision… so it is vital that we spend quality time together talking it through or we will end up sending mixed messages to you, the most important part of TTH, our faithful followers. H is especially prone to being totally wrapped up in what’s happening in her life right there and then. Me me me time. It is easy to fall into life in a bubble when you’re busy and stressed. We are going to pop those bubbles this year. We are full on with what we do and, because we really appreciate each other’s strengths, it works for us to delegate and divide and tackle tasks apart. There are so many scheduled social events and meetings that steal away our time together, so the only communication we have is via text or email. Friendship in 280 characters is not a proper partnership. In 2018, we want to make more time to communicate one to one, face to face. Two heads are better than one, right? Twice the Health will be twice as good if we do what we do in step. That was the idea with this whole thing anyway!
3) Socialise More
TTH time together is a must… down time together is on the wish-list too. We live busy lives and busy lives need routine. Our TTH routine is a daily cycle of well, cycling, running, working out, emailing and, oh yes, we mustn’t forget eating and sleeping… although we sometimes do! It is a circuit… 20 squat thrusts, 3 Instagram posts, 200 calories, 40 winks… repeat! Being friends with H and E is a bit like having a boyfriend in Australia… not much gazing into each other’s eyes going on! So, sorry!!!… can we come back into the social circle, please? Yes, even those of you that don’t want to talk fitness and health! Catching up with friends is a wonderful way of visiting the rest of the planet… talking to people you know and love about babies and weddings and dog walks and what’s making the news – all kinds of stuff that we are too busy running to keep track of. Is David Cameron still Prime Minister? No?? We really do need to get out more. And we shall… we want to, we need to. We blame our friends in part because they are all busy too but someone’s got to schedule a diary conference and get some dates in. Stand by for coffee catch ups and Thursday cocktails (What do you mean you can’t do Thursdays?!!).
4) Do What We Love More
So, here’s a challenge you can complete without getting sweaty!… define happiness. It’s a very personal thing, maybe a very private thing, sometimes an incredibly simple thing, often a terrifyingly complicated thing. It’s a changing thing, a passing thing, a returning thing, a thing you perhaps don’t truly know until it’s gone. The only certainty is that it is a vital thing… it is worth making Resolutions about. Finding happiness is not always easy but it is always worth trying. Even in this fast-paced world where we can lose the time to do what makes us truly happy, there are no excuses for not trying to change all that. It may just be that visiting a favourite coffee shop or heading out on an early morning walk with nothing but a podcast for company can carry you in the direction of happiness. Yes, bills must be paid and deadlines need to be made but they should never be a reason for giving up on the search for a little more happiness. It is the greatest single motivation known to mankind. No value can be placed upon it. It’s just too precious to put to one side or shelve. It’s your right, not your luxury. Love is a perfect gin and tonic… or it can be. Always make time for things that make you truly happy, even if it means setting the alarm a bit earlier! (but try not to have the G & T as soon as you wake up!)
5) Prioritise More
Ok, picture this… we planned a workout for early evening and then a job comes in – a blog that must be completed and posted by tomorrow. Do we a) Get the job done while we are fresh and full of the energy we had planned on using in the gym, or do we b) Go to the gym for a shortened session and hope that we are not too exhausted to tackle the job with a clear and lively mind? You guessed it, the answer is B… or, worse still, c) have a coffee and a chocolate biscuit, phone your mum and watch some trash telly while you decide. In 2018 we are going to prioritise (hard to spell, let alone do!). We are going to do some looking in the mirror (ugh!… are they my lashes??!) and asking ourselves the difficult question… ‘what’s more important?’ Sometimes, a lot of the time, it will be TTH… communicating, branding, er earning! Other times, we will have to check on the Resolutions above and make sure we are in touch with each other, in touch with our friends and family, looking after our bodies, looking after our minds, doing what we love as well as what we need to. Yes, we need to pay the rent and that means prioritising our workload over our deadlift load, but we need to be at our best to do our best work. Balancing life’s priorities is even more important than balancing the books. I feel a list coming on!
TTH x
