Thirteen. Have you ever worked on anything that long? That’s how long this blog has been in existence—it’s now a teenager!
The past year still was one of the most difficult years of my life as we continue to live in a pandemic. Personally, my mental health was strained to its limits as fatigue sets in from the very long lockdowns. And just as we thought things were getting better and started opening up, things got worst as the Delta variant arrived. What little we gained from the brief easing of restrictions were wiped out. Thankfully, things started getting better for real as many people got vaccinated. As of the moment, a lot of things are pretty much back to “normal” (at least in Metro Manila where the majority of the adult population is vaccinated), except that people are still wearing masks and many workers, including myself, are still working from home.
I started the year pushing back my losses in terms of fitness. 2020 wiped out years’ worth of effort from my fitness and the mental distress it caused really made it a challenge for me to start over. Gyms were considered “non-essential” and were restricted to operate for months throughout the year placing a huge toll not only on my fitness but also in the industry as a whole. Imagine not earning anything for months but still having bills to pay. Thankfully, there were a few virtual races that managed to keep me motivated to move while indoor activities were disallowed. Chasing sunsets were also a predominant theme with my other “runs” whenever there were no virtual races to track.
The commencement of the Tokyo Olympics, despite the fragile situation at the time, proved to be a huge help with the mental health of a lot of people as we had new things to look out for, other than news about the pandemic. It was especially true for Filipinos as we had our best Olympic performance ever which included our first ever Olympic gold medal! Personally, I was inspired by our athletes especially when I learned of their challenges in training during the pandemic. And finally getting my vaccine after waiting since the year started reinforced my confidence that things will get better.
With my renewed confidence because of my vaccination, I was able to start exploring more (on foot of course) and see new developments that were built while we’re all locked in our homes. And as gyms reopened again, I found myself much more motivated than when the year started—so much so that I’ve already seen some results after just about a month and a half! I still am quite cautious though when I see crowds like in malls or other places with poor ventilation and avoid it whenever I can.
This blog has seen a lot in its 13 years of existence and I can easily say that the last few years aren’t it’s best, but the last one was seemingly reversing the tide as my mental health improves with the easing of restrictions. I’m grateful that it’s still here, functioning as my online journal about my fitness journey, capturing my ups and downs, saving my thoughts for posterity. Even if I was told to stop doing it because no one is reading or cares about it.
To you reading this, thank you! Hopefully in some ways I got to motivate you to keep pursuing your goals even if it seems that no one else cares. Keep doing what you love and stay safe!
runningpinoy 