5fdf35065b3ee646b2cb19be_E-119 Tri+ Disc Nordhavn x Michelle Vesterby 2500x1250 FB

What did you get out of 2020?

2020 and Corona. That pretty much sums up the annual report – or so it may feel! But when I think about it, a lot of good things have happened this year. Granted: It has been a strange and different year. It has been anything but what I had thought and imagined when I jumped into the new year in Herning on New Year’s Eve in 2019. It has given me headaches, it has filled me with tears, and it has given me challenges I had never dreamed of. But – it has also given me the opportunity to re-evaluate, to think about and reflect on: Am I really doing what I want to do? And am I spending my life on what makes sense to me?

The short answer is yes! But the slightly longer answer and the slightly larger reflections, have also given me other and many more answers on how I should use the future. So, what have 2020 and COVID-19 really taught me?

Enjoy the process and the present – and not the next goal

I have always been on the move, for there are many sub-goals to get on the podium in Hawaii. It’s been my goal for a long time now, and it still is – no doubt about it! But I have learned that one must also enjoy the days of the process. Everyday counts: that I get up, I make my training work and my family work – it all counts as well!

2. 2:57:36 and book publishing

I have always been branded as a bad runner. I am good at swimming, great on a bike, but poor at running. Or so some say. Corona made up for it. Because when you cannot race, you can run, and I set out to run a marathon in less than 3 hours. As said so done: 2 hours, 57 minutes and 36 seconds. And then 2020 was also the year I came to the finish line with my book Keep Smiling. A fun and creative process where I had to find myself in a completely new role – both while it was being written, while it was to be / should be sold, and presented via lectures about all of it. I have really enjoyed that!

Another year with Markus

Yes, what can I say? Markus you can never get tired of! He’s doing fine and we’re doing fine. Our little family is running. The only thing that did not work was Daytona – or: we / I found out that it is possible to race without Markus. But it just does not work as well. He belongs on the finish line when I cross it – it’s just the best. The loss was simply too great. A lesson I will take with me when I start training for Hawaii 2021 in a little while.

When I put it this way, 2020 was not so bad at all. I actually sit with a crooked smile and think that maybe we benefited from getting an eye opener? It could have been gentler, and it certainly should not have taken so many consequences, but 2020 gave me the opportunity to reflect on what really makes me happy. Fortunately, what I do makes me really happy, and I have no desire to do anything else – even though it has cost me a lot of tears.

What makes you happy? Have you thought about it? – If not, you can reach it still, because 2020 is not over yet!

Keep Smiling

Michelle

Share this post

Recent Posts

Another disappointment – another challenge to conquer.
22 March 2021
A new chapter
08 February 2021
About doing everything fully - but "only" at 80%
28 January 2021
A loss must never become a taboo - a personal blog post about loss
15 January 2021
A marathon that never ends
12 January 2021

Events

No event found!