Chinch preparing for a busy season.
While we’re on the topic of resolutions today, we thought we’d circle the wagons and get the team together for some 2019 reflection and 2020 perspective. As we head full speed into a brand new eventing season, here is what the EN team is resolving to do. Consider this an accountability group, loosely moderated by chinchillas.
Shelby Allen: Resolutions always seem so mammoth to me, so the last few years I’ve made mine something to simple without benchmark measurements: Bake more, ride more, etc. Like most things in my life, the last 365 days were taken at full speed. I split my time between working and going back to school to get a degree in nursing, and 2020 will be much the same. This year will have some pretty impressive milestones — I’m getting married in August and graduating from Emory University in December — so my New Year’s Resolution is to enjoy the busyness. I want to take care of myself and my people, and it would be nice to get my semi-retired-now-out-of-retirement eventer back in a competition arena. Bring on 2020!
Tilly Berendt: Every year I scribble a list of resolutions into the bag of my diary, and every year, they’re almost completely work-related because I am a colossal saddo. One of them is always the same: cover an event that I’ve never been to before. Every year, I’m lucky enough to tick that box, and 2020 is no exception – I’m so, so excited to make my first trip over to Kentucky. Bring on the bourbon, my friends. I’m also quietly hoping that this will be the year I finally write a book – I’m breaking out in a cold sweat just thinking about it – and I’d love to squeeze in an FEI event or two with my own horse, the indomitable Queen Bee, too. Otherwise, my goals for the year are pretty straightforward – go back to Aachen and drink as many free mojitos as I can stomach, flirt shamelessly with some showjumpers, lather, rinse, repeat. 2020 will have to work hard to live up to 2019, which has been a pretty marvelous thing overall, but I’m confident that in this, at least, I can succeed.
Maggie Deatrick: For years I’ve had ideas about anything and everything; about how to improve the workflow at my company, about things I can see with the databases I’ve collected, opinions about the love of my life (eventing!), even plots for YA novels that aren’t half bad. But they never go anywhere after I shout them out into the ether, living only in an echo chamber as my cheerleaders reassure me that they are in fact good ideas. I never follow through, never pick one thing and follow it to fruition with elbow grease and persistence. So this year, my goal is focus and follow through; pick one thing at a time and make it happen.
Abby Powell: At the risk of sounding really cliché and cheesy, my New Year’s Resolution is to be more present. I’ll admit that in the past I’ve thought that sayings like “Be Here Now” and “Live in the Moment” were some of the most gag-worthy corny sayings out there (actually, I do still kind of think that,) but now I can see the merit of them at least. I guess I’ve gotten older and wiser and all that jazz, but really it’s only recently started to hit home to me that (brace yourself for another cliché, I’m sorry!) the future isn’t guaranteed and it makes life more enjoyable to be present in the current moment rather than dwelling on the past or living only for the future. Now, that’s not to say I won’t continue obsessing over the future, because I so totally will and I’m really good at it in fact! I just need to slow down here and there, take a breath, enjoy time with my friends and fam and be thankful for the moment. Additionally, this year I would like to read more books and not let so much produce wilt in my fridge.
Jimmie Schramm: I don’t entirely believe in New Year’s Resolutions, but I will say that one of my goals for this year is to pull less cross country so I can start making the time!
Sally Spickard: 2019 was a great one for me, and part of that comes from my return to the EN team. I’m looking forward to contributing more to the great sport of eventing in 2020, and although I don’t ride currently I find that I’m perfectly content telling the stories of the people I admire and aspire to emulate. I can’t wait to dig up more of those stories in the new year.
Leslie Wylie: Balance … what is that? I’ve forgotten over the past year. Probably having a baby has something to do with it. But in 2020, all the things I’ve sort of let fall by the wayside — riding, running, having some semblance of a social life — I’d like to revisit, in a way that is sustainable. I tend to be an all-or-nothing, go-big-or-go-home sort of girl, but in the coming year I think moderation is going to be key, and granting myself some grace that I can’t do everything all of the time. Maybe I go Training instead of Prelim, and that’s fine. Maybe I run a couple 5Ks instead of a marathon. Maybe I farm out some of the EN stories I’d love to write myself, or take a day off here and there. I love living life at the fastest pace possible, but this year it could be worthwhile exercise to find the fun in pumping the brakes on occasion, too.
