Starting Slow

Starting Slow

New years always lead to huge motivation spikes amongst people. It’s a new beginning, a fresh start to do whatever you want, and most of the time, it’s the thing you have been procrastinating on for months or perhaps years. The most gym sign ups happen, why else would Planet Fitness be such a huge sponsor during the Time Square New Years’ Festivities. Most people have plans for what they want to do. I didn’t. I had goals that I wanted to hit but I never started a new thing consistently. I had an incredible 2024. I got the most done, my consistency was improved in every area of my life. Physically, mentally, school wise, financially. Everything went well and I would have to say it was the most productive year of my whole adult life. On the physical side, six months of consistent training ended by finishing a marathon in January of 2025. End of goal. The completion of that goal was incredible, I loved that day, one of my best. I even got a little emotional for that final mile, I finally showed my consistency, and I ran by that finish line with my family beside me.

I peaked in mid-January. What now? Combined with that and some busy weeks, I fell into a rut. With school, with work, with my relationships, every category took a hit. Even financially, an area where I was locked in had weekly transfers telling my money where to go. Car insurance and taxes hit me, and my money journey hit a hiccup. I even got greedy again and bought single stocks. Something I lost earlier on in my financial journey. Even exercise fell away again as I added five more pounds of the 25, I lost while training for my marathon.

Safe to say, I started slow. It’s the end of February now. Do I punt and say better luck next year? Get back on my social media and start scrolling away? Probably not optimal. I have goals that I want to hit. Who cares if I start slow, I can always work my way back.

How do I right the ship?

Financial

I put a pause in my investments, all of them other than 401(k) and HSA. Those are work deductions so I don’t want to go through pausing that. Due to my emergency fund being hit, I need to focus on filling it back up, quicker than investments. This is the first time in well over a year that my savings got touched. I have also never paid taxes before, and also my car insurance went up the same month. I could have waited to pay taxes surely, but the goal is to have it filled back up hopefully in three months. In a rapid kind of way. I need to get that padding back. I also paid for two vacations this month. Those would have been easily paid but the taxes hit hard. I paid six months of car insurance so that won’t bother me while I get my funds back in. This might lead to a large delay in being able to max out my Roth IRA and push back other savings goals. Luckily, I have 13 months left to max out my Roth IRA. First things first is to get back to having a thicker emergency fund.

Physically

This was such a good habit that fell off after the large goal. I don’t have anything to train for. So why bother go out and run just for health reasons. Stupid I know, but we are all lazy creatures fighting with our logical brain. For the last week or two, life has calmed back down and I have been able to exercise more consistently. I have enjoyed running, and my girlfriend has joined me as well so that has been energizing. I had a physical goal to enter a pickleball tournament but with how far away the pickleball courts are from me, it is hard to get to the courts. Will ramp up training during a training period similar to my marathon training. It would make much more sense as I will hopefully be closer to the courts to train harder. I just need daily workouts and walks at work as I used to have up until the beginning of the year really shook my routine all around.

Mental Health

A good category to make sure I am doing well in. I am nothing but a sack of blood and bones without my brain. There have been weeks and months where my mental health was declining and I had to right the ship. Last year in the summer was one of my hardest times mentally. Through the help of therapy, dieting, exercising, and just being a decent human being, I was able to escape that dark hole I was in. Even with a slow start to the year and me declining everywhere else, I have still been able to keep a decent handle on this area.

School

Always a topic. I have been a poor student in the past so I can tell that I am much better than I once was. Not to say I am good at school, but I have improved tremendously. I started slow this year, but I have been able to turn it around and maintain a decent grade. One class I had a horrible test one but was able to come back in test two and deliver a good grade. It has been a journey through school. Ups and downs. Mostly downs. When I walk across that stage in a couple of years, I am going to feel truly accomplished.

Business wise

I started to be a travel agent a few months ago. I still have not gotten any business that isn’t my family or extended family. I have done quotes for other people but still have not fully booked a vacation. I am still new. Still trying to figure out marketing. Figure out posting on social media. I have known this to be a complete weakness of mine, but I am trying to fix it. Trying to post daily to see what works. What doesn’t. If I do go for a few days without creating and posting on the other platforms I start to get worse and worse at it. I lose all momentum, and it just goes downhill from there. I’m still young. Stumbling through life, trying to figure it out. At least I am in the game.

It has been a slow start to the year 2025. Luckily there are 12 months in a year and after 3 months, sure, It has had its ups and downs (mostly) but luckily life is unpredictable, and I could go on a winning streak for the next nine months. I can feel myself starting to get into a groove.