In Conclusion

I have to admit, I am sort of sad that the twelve day’s are over. I’m not gonna lie and say the 12 days (which actually was more like 18 for me and 25 for Jen) was easy. It definitely was not. It was hard, in a good way though. Committing to something and sticking to it makes hard things completely worthwhile. The funny thing about this challenge is that it’s not like Jen and I started out as couch potatoes and decided to do yoga for 12 days. We are both really active! We have trained for ½ marathons, sprint triathlons, and bike races together, and we have been practicing yoga for years. I think the real challenge here was the idea of blogging about something we are both passionate about. Jen is an amazing writer and has some of the most creative ideas I have ever heard/seen, and I graduated from Boston College with an English degree. A blog was the perfect way for both of us to express our thoughts with each other, and its also pretty cool that other people enjoyed reading what we had to say!

What I learned: I learned a lot during these 12 days. The first and most beneficial lesson I learned was, to quote Jen’s blog title, yoga calms me. I honestly felt like nothing could bother me during the 12 days of yoga. Little things that normally got me riled up didn’t faze me, and I was overall more positive in a lot of aspects of my life. Any stress or anxiety I was feeling was gone after a yoga class, and this was something I hadn’t totally recognized before. It is good to know I have a remedy for instances when I am feeling defeated or depressed. I also learned that I like every single item in Lululemon. It’s hard not to be obsessed with a product that is so well made and also so cute, but during these 12 days I found myself browsing in Lululemon more than I often do (my excuse will be that I was Christmas shopping). I was able to restrain myself, but I will say, I never walked out of the store without a mental list of new things I wanted. I also learned about blogging. I have never blogged before, nor have I ever been someone who religiously reads other blogs (besides barstoolsports.com), so it’s been eye opening to read all the different types and genres of blogs that exist. One more thing. I learned that not everyone will care about everything, or anything for that matter, that I write. I didn’t publicize this blog on facebook or twitter. I only sent the link in an email to a few of my close friends. The response was sort of what I expected. Although all my friends love exercise, none of them like yoga, so I figured this blog probably would not be of interest to them. I never nagged them to read it or probed them for responses because I honestly wasn’t really doing this for other people as much as I was for myself. My good friend Mila did have a great response, which I loved:

Response 1 (to my email telling her about the blog but before actually reading the blog):

“Go Ali! Proud of you. Now I can turn on some country music, mix up a little vodka soda splash of cran, read your blog and it will be like we are hanging out!!”

Response 2 (after reading):

“Ali! I just actually read your blog. Earlier when I responded I was just pretending to care and be a friend. Now that I have actually read it I am so impressed. You are such a talented writer!

I thought your comment about being still and using help was incredibly insightful and something I probably need to think more about. I’m like totalllllyyyy going to read your blog for the next 12 days.”

Sooooo…even though Christmas has come and gone, the blog is going nowhere (it will still be twelvedaysofchristmasblog.com even in July!). Jen and I have a lot of different ideas for the future including experimenting with other 12-day challenges, but for a little while it will focus on a little bit of everything; fitness, family, pop culture, current events, and of course we will still write about the amazing yoga classes we attend. Definitely keep reading and any suggestions, comments, or questions are welcomed J Also, check out Jen’s blog afewofmyfavoritethingsblog.com.

In conclusion to what seems like an acceptance speech to winning an Emmy (the music telling me to get off stage has started), I want to thank all the amazing teachers and studios that we visited during the twelve days. I know there are so many more that we weren’t able to get to. I also want to thank my family and friends who read the blog as well as all the followers and commenter’s!  Lastly, I want to thank Jen for inspiring me to take on this challenge and for adding another perspective to this blog (more than one perspective is always a good thing). I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!

Moral of the twelvedaysofchristmasblog.com:

1. Be still. Help is ok. Sometimes not doing anything is actually what you are supposed to be doing!
2. Control can quickly be lost. Sometimes you don’t know what you need until after you have it.
3. Instead of filling your schedule with things that you have to do, try putting things on your schedule that you are NOT going to do.
4. Find joy in your pose.
5. Our health is our greatest strength.
6. Sometimes the things that are important are deeper then what we see on the surface.
7. Sometimes regret can be worse than any other feeling you may have.
8. Sometime’s you just have to get the hang out of something before it becomes possible.
9. Deal with things one step/breath at a time.
10. Try to become “unstuck” every so often.
11. If you pick your battles you will have so much more energy for the important things.
12. Timing (or unawareness of) is everything. Sometimes it is important to be aware of time, sometimes it is important to not be.

(I’m stealing Jen’s quote because there is no other way to say it better)

“No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever”

-Francois Muriac