My August 2020 Goals

• Stay Positive
• Teach My First Yoga Class EVER! 
• Set It (Boundaries) and Forget It!
• Find More Time for Myself
• Reinstate My Live Workouts

I’m not going to lie: I have been crankier than usual lately. I’m stressed out, I’m not sleeping well, and I’m finding myself complaining more than usual. When I allow too much stress to build up and don’t take the time to take care of myself (in a moment, I’ll talk about how setting boundaries plays into this stress buildup), I can become cranky and unpleasant. Honestly, the person I think I annoy the most when I get like that is myself, because whining and complaining aren’t my bffs. 

Regardless of my stress levels – and I can’t even predict what’s going to happen with stress throughout the month of August. 2020 has been a rough ride! – that is really no excuse to be sitting around complaining. I have to remind myself that I’m a woman of action, but also that I will not allow other people to impact my mood. This is actually one of my mantras when I’m going through a tough time or having to work with difficult people. 

Yoga has taught me different coping mechanisms, but I have to be honest with myself and admit that I have not been great about actually using them during the last couple of weeks. I got really down on myself a few weeks ago, and I felt like I threw all of my new tools out the window.

In August, my goal is to stay positive and dig into my toolkit when things start getting tough. 

I’m rounding the corner on my second half of yoga teacher training, which means it’s finally about time for me to start teaching a few classes towards my certification! I’m not as nervous now as I was around this time last month, but I also have never taught yoga before. 

All of the other certifications I’ve been gobbling up during quarantine have made me feel more comfortable teaching fitness classes in general, but yoga is just so different from everything else! I will definitely let you all know when that first class is coming up because it’s going to take a village to raise this aspiring yoga teacher! 

I recently posted on my Instagram feed about holding space for myself and others. Frankly, I had no idea what this phrase meant from a yoga standpoint until I started this teacher training – and that includes when I was regularly practicing yoga and would hear my teachers say it! Since it hadn’t been explained to me, I always assumed holding space meant to not let someone step on your mat or invade your space. Stand your ground, sort of, I guess? Well… that ain’t it.  😑

This explanation by Wanderlust is a pretty good summary. Some people might describe it as making yourself available to others, being a shoulder to lean on, etc. 

Throughout this yoga teacher training, I have learned that it is just as important to hold space for others as it is to hold space for yourself, and I have been working hard at self-compassion. (I know, I know. I definitely just roasted myself in the “Stay Positive” description. I’m a work in progress, okay?) One of the most important ways for me to do this, as it pertains to my mental wellbeing, is setting boundaries. 

I have never been great at this. At times, I’ve felt taken advantage of, but sometimes I’ve blamed myself for not speaking up or just saying, “sorry, but I can’t do that for you.” I’ve had to start setting stricter boundaries around my work because – when I really sit and admit it to myself – I’ve been on the brink of burnout since we entered quarantine, and to what end? 

Now that I’m working on setting these boundaries in my professional and personal lives, I’m starting to feel a huge weight lifted off of me. My goal this month is to just “forget it” when it comes to these boundaries; I’ve already set them! No need to double back on them now!

This has been super hard for me my entire adult life! BUT! There is a light at the end of the tunnel: 

Now I get why people schedule these self-care moments! If I even find one day to treat myself somehow (take an Epsom salt bath, plant some vegetables, paint something, etc.), I will count this as a major achievement. If I can make a habit out of doing this at least once a month for the rest of the calendar year, I believe I will be in a much better mental space by the start of the new year!

Almost two months ago, I began teaching my cycling classes at the gym again. We have very few bikes in the large cycle studio, everyone is required to wear masks indoors, our gym is being kept super sanitary with a high-tech air filtration system and heavy-duty cleaning all day, and I teach one of my classes outdoors each Saturday morning. In short: I feel pretty safe teaching my classes right now. Nonetheless, adding four classes a week back into my routine has taken some time for adjustment. 

I was running a lot more when we first went into isolation, but I’m barely running now. I was also teaching HIIT classes every Tuesday night on Facebook live, but I had to halt that while we were working out my new cycle schedule. Further, I was teaching barre classes on the weekends but now I’m teaching a double-header on Saturday mornings, so that hasn’t happened. Needless to say, my fitness routine had a serious shakeup once my gym reopened.

Now that I’ve been teaching my classes, and my body has gotten over the initial soreness attributed to a new routine, I’m ready to start teaching some of my resistance-based classes again, and I’m also ready to start pounding the pavement and the trails with my running shoes. Additionally, my work schedule is changing a bit now that we’ve gotten through a couple of major virtual events, so I am looking forward to nights with better rest and a bit less stress (fingers crossed).  

If I’m able to complete these goals, I believe that I will be in a much better mental space heading into the fall, and possibly stricter social distancing protocols and regulations (translation, more mandated time at home). 

I am most looking forward to teaching my first yoga class. My training has me feeling more comfortable with the idea, and actually visualizing myself teaching yoga. A month ago, I wasn’t even close to feeling comfortable!

Have you set any goals for the month of August? What is your gameplan to achieve these goals? Do you have any tips for goal-setting?