It maybe a bit fortuitous but Happy New Year to you all. I do hope that this is the year that we see an end to the pandemic, and a more positive “vibe” coming back, slowly but surely.
I am told that when variants get milder, it points to the ending of a pandemic, but who really knows. We can only hope and that is what we have – hope.
I thought it would be a good way to start the new year on my website / Blog by sharing some new plans soon to come.
My fitness journey has gone from boot camp classes, to weight training, to training and “preps” for competitions… to home workouts all during lockdown (which I posted to social media) and now back to the gym. Over the last six years I have studied, lived and breathed fitness – it is almost like drinking water for me – you may not want to do it but you know you have to 🙂 Over the years I have had so many friends, online and in person reach out about helping them with their fitness journey. I realise that I am passionate about it, write about it, post about it — whatever I do, it is clear many people have seen that I LOVE it.
Posing at my little beach, very rustic but sweet beach. This is me at 54 and if I can do it, anyone can!
Which leads me to the next thing to talk about….age. I never have given my age away on social media – as many persons presume I am much younger than I am, so I feel that is cool. However, I have always been very vocal about wanting to help women achieve their goals at any age, but especially as you hit your 40’s and 50’s and think it is not possible. Well I am here to tell you that it is VERY possible. You can get into shape, change your physique literally, create healthy eating habits and have that balance of life…without extreme measures – and still look fabulous!
I am currently putting together a few online Fitness Programs, ones that I have used for years, and feel I would love to now share with others and I am getting many questions for training, online and in person. I will also have in person training available but only available in Jamaica.
Stay tuned to this space, alot more to come, which I am currently working on. If you are not following me on Instagram yet, you can by following the link on my sidebar – this is where I post alot of fitness content, and under highlights many At Home Workouts which I did during our lockdowns when the gyms were closed.
Here is to a healthy, happier, more positive, FIT and balanced 2022.
I do hope you are keeping well. And by well I mean “safe.” It pains my heart to read that so many hospitals in the USA are full, and that the medical professionals are tired and depressed for so many reasons.
Anyway, the point of this post is not to re-hash what we should all know by now. It is to look back at this year.
For me, it started with such a hopeful note, although I had read about the virus in China that was causing a lot of concern. In January I woke up on the 1st thinking this would be the year I would be able to do things I had on my wish list. Travel more. Buy a home. Start up a small business on the side. I was ecstatic about my future.
January was like a dream to me as in my professional career, it was highlighted with a trip to the Bahamas to collect three World Travel Awards for our Company.
In my room before I left for the Award Ceremony at Sandals Royal Bahamian. I had my hair and make up done by a makeup artist at the Grand Hyatt next door. I had two dresses to choose from, a jewelled green beautiful formal dress and this one that Polka Dots designed for me, a black very lovely but not as formal. I decided to wear the black one as I love a dress that shows off my shoulders, and I had a very formal belt that went hand in hand with the dress and so the “look” was pulled off!
I was so happy to be on stage accepting the award for GoldenEye, Strawberry Hill and The Fleming Villa! Such a surreal experience.
Words cannot explain how I felt on this night. I have two awards here, but we ended up with three! What a night. Always, always will remember this magical evening!
We also hosted the Cayman Cookout at GoldenEye, at The Ian Fleming Villa in January with well renowned Chefs who flew in on private jet from Cayman for the day.
At the Cayman Cookout at The Fleming Villa, what an experience! With renowned Chefs & Restauranteurs Daniel Boulud, and Dominique Crenn as special guests!
In the beginning of March, it became clear to me that things were changing and changing fast. We kept hearing about the spread of the virus to the UK, and USA. We knew things were going to get SO much worse, and yes, they did.
I was asked to be be a part of the Jamaica Government Covid-19 Prototols team for the Company which back then, it was still called “Corona virus.” Myself and a work colleague spent 12 hours putting the hotel protocols together, we did not realise then, that the hotels would have to be closed down for a good six months due to the lockdown and the borders closing!
That’s when it hit me that the year was literally not going to turn out the way I wanted it or for that matter the way anyone wanted it! I have been fortunate enough to work from home and decided to “up the ante” on my fitness journey by setting up my veranda for daily workouts to post for my friends and followers who were asking for home workout tips. This was due to the gyms closing.
At the very time I could have cried the year away and become depressed I decided to fight through it with alot of balance and meditation. Balance via my workouts, dogs and supportive hubby.
I set my “veranda gym” up with dumbbells, an exercise ball, resistance bands and a huge basket of things to use during my workouts like the thick resistance band I use for glute work. I used my wooden benches for “bench work” and even a chair for some seated dumbbell exercises. As mentioned in my post what a year, most of these workouts are posted on my Instagram account under the highlights. Many people ask how I recorded myself. Simple a tripod that bends to be placed anywhere!
An example of warming up the glutes for a glutes and lower body workout. Using the “booty band.” Note this is just a snippet of the workout itself. More on my Instagram page (see Instagram link on my sidebar!)
I took the time to add music and edit the videos so they could be shared to my social media and I received great feedback and questions. It has given me some insight as to where I think I am headed in the future post pandemic in terms of fitness. More to come in that as I still have a very busy job that keeps me on my toes.
What this year brought to me has been a new perspective of how to live my life based in how I chose to live it this next year. It’s been alot more lonely that is for sure. For everyone. However my realization that I was not getting the full balance of work versus my own time fully dawned on me this year. I love having flexible hours. It doesn’t mean I work less it means I found a way to “make my flexible hours work for me” to give me that time to do a workout, walk the dogs…cook. Meditate. Talk to my hubby. I don’t have a 9-5 office job and never will. I don’t need to be physically somewhere at a desk to work. I have a creative job that I work on whenever it is needed. That could be a 12 hour day on a weekend or a six hour day during the week. This is how I prefer it. I realize I don’t want the standard rules of work anymore as once you love what you do it really doesn’t matter if you end up working all day on a Sunday….or to midnight during the week. As long as the balance is there; and you love what you do – then all is good!
I would love to know how you intend to change the way you are going forward after this pandemic is behind us. How will your life change for the better? What have you realized this year that has made you think that your life has to change in some way?
Fitness. Health. Wellness. Balance. 