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Hello friends! My name is Sky, and I'm a writer, photographer, new-ish wife, and former gym aficionado who is now figuring out what health and fitness looks like in this season of life. We in the Northern Hemisphere have recently entered The Cozy Season - I hate winter with a passion, for many reasons (darkness, heavy clothing, less social interaction, more time inside, etc.), but I'm doing my best to remember all the good things about it too. Warm food, joyful traditions, a chance to try new indoor exercises (or to bundle up and see the outdoors in its winter attire!), and most importantly, time to look inward and reflect on the year that's passed and the year ahead. Reflection and goal-setting are my main focus for this challenge. The short version of where I'm at is, I stopped working out while planning my wedding in 2021, and while I've tried to set workout and eating goals in the past year, they haven't really stuck. I mostly make lists of things to do, and then feel guilty about not doing them. So what I want to do in the next few weeks, is to figure out why that's the case, why I'm setting the goals I'm setting, and if those are really the goals I want to pursue. The questions I asked myself in a journaling session the other day included: Am I pursuing the goals I really care about? Is there a way to align my small goals better with my larger goals? Why don't I want to do things like exercise, eat vegetables, etc.? Is there some perfectionism blocking me from taking steps I actually want to take? Can I shift the way I'm thinking about these goals to help me aim for what I really want, rather than for what I think I "should" want? Obviously these are big questions and I have some solid reflecting to do. This month's "challenge" is going to be more of a journaling and experimentation space while I rest and enjoy traveling and family during the holidays, and then figure out what I really want to accomplish in the new year ahead. And, in order to make sure I'm not just collecting underpants, by the end of the challenge I want to have three S.M.A.R.T. goals to kick off the new year. A few things I do already know: Eamon and I are really hoping to have a baby sometime in the next year, so a big part of my focus will be on hormone health to enable and sustain a healthy pregnancy. That encompasses nutrition, exercise, rest, mental health care, and a heaping daily dose of courage. I don't like how I look right now, but so far, every time I've ever lost weight, it's been because my mental health tanked and I punished myself by not eating. So, I'm not going to do that this time. Any of my weight-related goals will be around body recomposition and not focused on getting skinnier. Related to both of those previous statements, I really want to get stronger. I tried to do a burpee the other day and almost threw my back out because I have zero core strength or back strength right now. Negative core strength, even. I have lots of muscle groups I want to target, but my core and back are my main focus areas. (This makes me think I'm in need of some deadlifts, but I'll reserve judgment on that for a bit. ) And while I'm looking inside and figuring out goals, I also want to really prioritize Coziness in this season. Winter often gets me feeling depressed and irritable, but I want to take advantage of the invitation to invest in warmth, light, softness, nourishment, family, and creativity while the natural world is at rest. So be prepared for lots of happy, cozy, yummy GIFs and hopefully adventures in cooking and baking and such. Thank you for being here!!