Author: Riley Pearce
Director of Social Media
The day was December 30th, 2018. Amelie and Jonathon had just gotten home from Jon’s parent’s place after spending the week of Christmas with them.
As Jonathon went into the bedroom to start unpacking his suitcase, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. What was once the reflection of an active, young, business development associate at an up-and-coming tech company, was now the reflection of a tired, grey-ing, Director of BD.
Jon’s ambition was something that he had always prided himself on. He grew up with no siblings and therefore got all the attention of his parents. They too were hard workers and instilled an attitude of “if you want it, work for it” in him from a young age.
While working to move up in his career his health held a position of lesser importance on his priority list. Jon used to play tennis 2-3 times per week, and even played on a men’s pick-up basketball team on his off nights. As work demanded more of him he saw less of the courts, and more of the insides of planes, hotel rooms, and his office.
While Jon was unpacking, Amelie had gone into the kitchen to see what they had in the fridge and cupboards. She and Jon would need to get groceries, before the stores close on New Years Day. When she got to the fridge what she found was a number of half-finished take-out containers, some butter, and cream for her’s and Jon’s morning coffee.
It was in this moment that Amelie realized that this is what her life had become. As Jon pursued his career goals, Amelie was also busy working away on her PhD in Biochemistry. Long nights in the lab and juggling her own life of meeting with advisors and working as a student teacher for a couple undergrad and masters seminars, meant that Amelie and Jon’s favourite activity as a couple – cooking – had taken a back seat. They would rush in the mornings to get ready, put their coffee in a travel mug, and be off. At the end of the day they’d both be so tired they’d just order in and promise to cook the next day.
Amelie was also active in her younger years. She played soccer and was an avid runner, having run in a half-marathon, and at least half a dozen 10k’s. Unfortunately she suffered an injury to her right knee and was never able to fully recover. She was incredibly intelligent, and was able to complete her Master’s project a full year before the other students in her program. As her injury took her away from her active hobbies, Amelie turned her focus to her studies and this quickly came to consume all of her time.
As their lives moved forward and the two achieved great success in many aspects of their lives, the couple had forgotten the one thing that matters most in life: Their health.
Jon was now 35lbs heavier than he was when he first started his job, and Amelie had 20lbs sneak its way onto her body.
Amelie closed the fridge and made her way to the bedroom. When she arrived she found Jon sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. Without saying it, the two of them knew what the other was thinking – “What happened?”
Being that it was the day before New Year’s Eve and the whole world was reflecting on the last year and setting goals for 2019 to make it the best year ever, Jon and Amelie decided the two of them would set goals that would bring their health back into focus.
They spent the evening discussing what would work best for their schedules, how Jon would manage getting exercise and good meals in when he’s travelling; how Amelie would manage meals and find a way to get active again, while respecting the injury to her knee.
The two of them had a single meeting with a dietician, just to get some professional tips on how to make healthy choices when you are limited for time. Jon then hired himself a personal trainer who could guide him through workouts while he was in town, and provide support through check-ins and modified workouts for hotels via email while he was away.
Due to Amelie’s injuries, she first had to meet his a physiotherapist. She had heard that swimming was a great low-impact sport for joints, so she found the free-swim times at her university’s pool and worked 15-30 minute swims into her schedule. She met with her physiotherapist as many times her student-insurance would cover and then took the exercises and advice into her daily life once the appointments ran out.
After a year Jon and Amelie found themselves again coming home after spending the week of Christmas with Jon’s parents.
This year, however, Jon and Amelie were coming home to something different.
As Jon walked past the mirror in his bedroom he saw someone who had consistently worked out 3-4 times per week, including the weeks where he was travelling for work. Not every workout was the “best workout”, but he maintained a schedule and kept the effort consistent.
As Amelie looked in the fridge, she found some wilted greens, a leftover casserole, some dark chocolate, along with a few other colourful ingredients. This view of the fridge now reminded her of those times that Jon was home between business trips and they were able to try new recipes together. She was reminded of those exceptionally long days at school and coming home to a home-made prepared meal.
Amelie’s knee, although not perfect, caused her less pain and she was really enjoying her new swimming routine. She had even convinced a few of her colleagues to join her, to make some of those early swimming sessions more social, the way that her running group was.
Amelie and Jon are now looking forward to 2020 with new goals. Jon is hoping he can start to play tennis or basketball again. Amelie is looking at getting herself into a gym with a personal trainer a few times a week to progress the exercises that her physiotherapist had given her. Although the two of them had not lost all of the weight that they had gained over the years, Amelie was down 10lbs and Jon was down 18lbs! The two of them had stopped weighing themselves though, as they loved the way they looked and felt. They had energy again, and actually found it easier to manage the demands of their respective careers.
For these two, all they had to do was sit down and pick the 1 thing that was stopping them from attending to their health. Amelie had an old knee injury that she needed to heal, and Jon needed help to figure out how to be active with his more demanding work schedule.
This story may be fictional but the limitations, the solutions, and the outcomes are all very real. You may be sitting reading this and reflecting on how your life has changed over the years, and thinking about what you could do in the next year to achieve your goals.
Setting goals in the various aspects of your life provides you with direction for the next year. As a society, setting goals gives us purpose, and this is essential to the human experience. Your health and longevity should most certainly be one of those aspects that you create a goal, or goals, for.
Instead of writing yet another article about the science of motivation and goal setting, this story was meant to act as a guideline and example for how easy it is to achieve 1 simple goal. In both cases, getting some help and guidance was crucial to their success. It took the guess-work out of the equation, and allowed the two characters to continue on with their busy lives, but now they had some structure to achieve their goals. Whether your health and longevity goal is a diet change, weight loss, muscle building, balance improvement, energy improvement, injury, etc., there is someone out there who is trained to get you from where you are to where you want to be faster than you would be able to on your own.
2019 was okay, but now we enter a new decade. A new time for possibilities, and a great opportunity for you to achieve the goals you’ve set. Happy New Year!
