There are only about 5 weeks to go until the end of this year!

2020 has been a year that will be etched on our memories. It’s been hard for everyone in very different ways.  Many people have experienced loss, pain and suffering and we must not brush that aside. There are many things about this last year that have been out of our control.

Fitfish is here to support you with the things that you can control. We want to help you to be as healthy as you can be in body, spirit and soul; to be the best that God has prepared you to be and to be able to do the things he has prepared us to do, within the limitations that we have. In the video, and blog below, are three things to help you to finish the year well.

1. Make the most of the positives. There’s been so much this year that hasn’t been so positive, but that’s not the whole story. The positives may seem small and insignificant things, but if they affect you and your life, then God cares about them and they are important. There are two areas relating to your whole health that are particularly relevant for our current situation.

The first is the food around Christmas time. Normally by this time of year there will be beige food everywhere!

Every meeting you go to, every staff room, every Bible study, every home group and church service, wherever you go there’s lots of beige food, possibly sprinkled with some green, red, silver and gold and inevitably accompanied by lots of sweets and chocolates. It’s wonderful to be out there and to be able to celebrate all these occasions; perhaps you are still going out to work and facing some of these challenges now, but in general, this year we’re going to be faced with a lot fewer obstacles between now and Christmas in terms of our eating, we are going to be mainly in control.

For once the birth of Jesus isn’t going to be celebrated from November to January with the rustle of sweet wrappers and the eating of mince pies. You can decide when you join in with those events, at appropriate times, without having to feel that you are constantly battling.

Secondly, even when we were in the first full lockdown, the government said that we could go out once a day for exercise. That in itself just shows how important exercise is. And even in the second lockdown that we’re in now, in England we can still meet up with one person at a time to walk, to run, to chat, and so we can still connect with different people, which is such a blessing. So, it is worth making the effort to get out and about and appreciate that opportunity. As we eventually get back to normal, or as our lockdown situation changes and things are reintroduced again, do appreciate the little things as they are reintroduced. Once you are able to do things again, never lose sight of what it meant to not be able to do much at all.

2. Have a vision for how want end of this year to look. We often talk about motivation in the Fitfish Healthy, Whole and Free groups and Forever program. We talk a lot about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and what motivates us. We also talk about the word ‘motive’. Motive means to move towards or to be driven towards something. It’s the energy or the force that makes us moves towards something. But what is that something? I encourage you to avoid just drifting towards New Year and instead to create a firm vision of what that could look like for you. It’s wonderful having dates in the diary that give us a bit of a goal, they can be great extrinsic motivators. And there’s nothing better than Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve to aim for. Think about how you want to feel when you sit down for your Christmas meal, whether that’s at the dinner table, on your lap or whatever you are planning for Christmas Day. How do you want to feel when you wake up that morning, and how do you want to feel as you end 2020? Because there’s still time. You can feel that way; you can feel positive that you’ve taken control and you’ve been in control of your decisions and your health. Your vision may involve writing some things down, it might just be picturing things in your head, it could even be making a vision board. Whichever you chose, revisit it regularly to remind yourself how you want to feel at the end of the year.

3. There is still time to build some good habits before the end of the year. Challenge yourself to choose three things that you can do that will change your trajectory and change the votes that you are putting in a box for the person who you want to become. These should just be small things that you can do on a consistent basis between now and the end of the year that will have an impact on you. Some examples could be things like drinking a glass of water first thing; making your bed; not putting clothes on the floor at the end of the day; taking a short walk every morning, even if it’s only for 2 minutes; or getting outside every day. One of my clients has talked about deciding to wear a necklace every day and how that small change has made her feel so different. You may choose some of these, or ideas of your own, but they should be things that would add up to you being in a slightly different place by the end of the year, because it’s not too late at all! And it’s not too late for some bigger changes either; if you want to feel different physically, if you want to feel better in your clothes, that’s totally possible.

To give you a bit of a boost, Fitfish is offering a freebee! It’s a PDF called ‘50 Wonderful Ways to End the Year Well’ and it suggests 50 little things that you could do to give a boost to your body, spirit and soul. It’s available to download here and we encourage you to use it for yourself and share with others too.