Dear 2011 Me, Part I

Last January, in the first few days of 2010, I wrote a letter to myself.

The letter was written by "future me," sitting in 2011, and in the letter I told myself what all I did in 2010.

This month, one year later, I'm revisiting it and this is what it said:

Good morning, Me!

How are you? Have you had your coffee yet? Are the kids off to school? Good. Because I’ve been waiting all year to tell you all this stuff I’ve been holding in and I need to get it out.

I hate to be so brutally honest, but you kind of started 2010 like a scaredy cat. I was a little worried about you. You bought a wet suit for your tri training, but you were afraid to get into the water because everyone kept talking about sharks. Plus, the training last year was along the murky causeway and it was disgusting and someone got stung by a Man O War and you came face to face with a giant jellyfish and your head got all messed up. This was actually your biggest hurdle in 2010, your own self, girl!!

But then someone else hated swimming at the causeway too (I remember you were really thankful for that since you were new to the group and you didn’t want to be the one to say something) and suggested Honeymoon Island instead. So you found an E-book online that talked specifically about sharks at Honeymoon Island, and it said yes, there are indeed sharks, but they don’t care about you anyway and there were statistics on shark bites along florida since 1882 and only 4 of those were fatalities. Your head enjoyed statistics. You didn’t really voice your fears out loud to anyone in the group because you were too proud, so you just bucked up.

You got over it and you got to a point where you could just swim and wipe your mind blank. I was really proud of you for that!! After all, you didn’t wanna look like a big ninny in front of everyone in the group because you’re such a headcase and all. (You know I’m kidding. Sort of. It’s a good thing you know my sense of humor!)

Well anyway, not only did you train in the open water, you also got a few lessons from one of the big swim coaches in the area who helped you with the mental part of it! Good for you.

Oh, and you got down to your goal weight! You went through some ups and downs to get there, but you really did buckle down in the end! I’m proud of you! And hey, good move going back to Weight Watchers. You know you’re silly trying to go it alone. You’re a “structure” girl when it comes to eating.

This was also a really cool year for meeting your bloggy friends! You went to Fitbloggin, you crossed the half-marathon finish line with your Sisterhood sisters in San Diego (I can’t believe you guys got that huge company to sponsor you!!!) and April was there when you finished the St. Anthony’s Triathlon! (She’s awesome, isn’t she?) And you finished the St. Anthony’s Triathlon!!!! That’s HUGE!! It was awesome that you completed such a big goal at the beginning of the year because you could relax and have fun doing smaller ones for the rest of the year. That training got pretty grueling! There were times that you thought maybe you were crazy to even try it!!

After St. Anthony’s, you did a couple more sprints tri’s over the summer and finished the season with the last one in October and you made a new PR in all of them! At this point, you still don’t believe you have as much cajones as you do. But whatever, headcase.

By the way, your family is really proud of you. Your son did his first kids’ race. You celebrated 5 years of marriage with your husband and your years together just keep getting better and better! He’s really awesome, but you know that already. And his company did really well this year, so you can stop worrying about that.

You have really gained a sense of self this year! Your freelance work really started to take off now that the kids are in preschool in the mornings. And you were finally able to enjoy your training because you weren’t afraid of it anymore! Look at everything you’re doing!

But that’s probably the biggest lesson you’re going to learn this year. You have some big cajones. Now if you’d only just stop sitting on them…

Well, I can’t wait to see you next January! (Which is today for me!) It’s 2011 now, and you should just about be ready for that Disney Marathon…

Muwahahahahahhah!

(By the way, you did find a running buddy to run those long ones with you. Whew!)

Love,
Future Me

WOW.

Well, yes, just like the letter said, I'm just about ready for the Disney Marathon that's 3 days away!! (How did she know???)

Let's see what else "future me" was right about: Yes, I overcame my open water swimming fears (mostly). I did go to Fitbloggin and ran the half-marathon in San Diego and met so many bloggy friends and fell in love with all of them, especially my fellow Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans who are my soul sisters (and "sole" sisters). Their support and encouragement has meant everything and without them it would have been so much harder to come out of my comfort zone. I broke all of my prs last year and I did my first Olympic distance -- St. Anthony's Triathlon.

The funniest thing about the letter is that I actually underestimated myself. The letter has me finishing out the year doing sprint tris and no where in it does it mention the Miami Man Half-Iron. Oh, if January 2010 "me" would have known I'd go and do that too!

I never really got to "goal" weight but I got pretty close. I still struggle with the last 10 but the confidence I gained from the goals I've reached means so much more to me than that stupid 10 pounds.

Not even "future me" knew how many mental and physical hurdles there would be to cross in 2010. What the training would be like (and how I even threw up once). How deep I'd have to dig and the inner demons I'd have to face.

I wonder what "2012 me" would think.

Well I'll soon figure it out because "2012 Me" is going to write another letter about what 2011 holds for me and I'll post that tomorrow.

You MUST try this.

This is something we started over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans last year and even if you're not shrinking with us (why aren't you? It's so fun! You don't even have to shrink, you can just maintain with us! And it's free too!) you should really do this. It's amazing to look back on it one year later.

All you have to do is sit there and imagine yourself as the you in 2012. "Look back" on the year and talk about what you did in 2011 and everything you overcame. Imagine what you look like, what you feel like having met your goals. And then write a letter to yourself spilling all of it. If you want to see what others have done, you can read this post all about the project.

Even if you don't blog, write your letter on paper, email yourself, print it out and keep it in a box, anything.

It's so worth it.