I Turned 50 in Kerala, India

I Turned 51 in British Columbia, Canada

I Turned 52 in Nova Scotia, Canada

Reflections – This Past Year

This past year has been steeped in the COVID pandemic. This is a year of wearing a mask, hand washing, hand sanitizing, social distancing, seeing family via Skype, as well as a constant, underlying awareness/fear of catching the virus while regulating this fear to prevent it from becoming irrational.

This past year includes working the COVID frontlines, in education. Stressful in many ways, rewarding in many ways, too.

This past year I achieved one year of living an alcohol-free life – and continue to do so. I stopped eating meat, reduced refined sugars and processed foods from my diet and lost 30lbs.

This past year I started my second year of running. I increased my pace to an average of 7’30” a kilometer and started running hills on a regular basis.

This past year I began using the Calm app on a daily basis, listening to meditations, practicing mindfulness and falling asleep to sleep stories.

This past year I started taking CBD for my chronic anxiety. It’s been a journey of finding the right dosage, stopping for a bit, then starting up again as I feel how it truly does reduce my anxiety.

This past year offered many challenges. I whole-heartedly focused on my physical and emotional health & wellness to support my navigation through so many challenging times. Running, living alcohol-free, taking CBD for my chronic anxiety, changing my diet and listening to the app, Calm were paramount to my success.

Emotions During the Day of My Birthday

I had such a range of emotions: fear because the number of COVID cases across Nova Scotia are spreading like wildfire, uncertainty – will schools close or will I have to go back to work and be exposed to so many people, sadness because I didn’t spend in-person time with family and friends, happiness because the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, laughter from a couple of funny birthday wishes, and gratitude for the many thoughtful birthday wishes from family and friends, both near and far.

Staying the Blazes Home

I had an eventful day! I started with a 10km run that had an elevation gain of 197.07m, at a pace of 8’15”. Not bad for my second year of running and turning 52! I stayed in my neighborhood – a remote area, up in a low mountain, in the woods, in the middle of Nova Scotia.

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Premier Iain Rankin and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Strang Made an Appearance

With an important news brief, updating the province on the latest COVID restrictions. Here we go, again…

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Had a Solo Dance Party – I’m Staying’ Alive (fingers crossed)!!!

I wasn’t thinking of this at the time I picked the song, but as I write this – there is some irony in my song choice during the start of a lockdown…

It’s COVID. It’s My Birthday!

My husband, Michael created a catchy tune on his guitar and helped me put together lyrics to make this fun video about having your birthday during COVID. We captured it on the second take.!

All-in-All – A Good Birthday

I had a nice Skype video chat with my parents and Michael bought me a yummy ice cream birthday cake. He also asked me to marry him, again. I said yes!

It’s been a few days since the actual day of my birthday. As I write this – Nova Scotia has gone into lockdown for at least two weeks. All schools are closed, online learning begins Thursday, April 29th.

Here we go, again!

S, 🎉

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