Life gives, but it also takes. 2024 has unequivocally been the toughest year of my life. When Athena passed in January, it left a void in every aspect of my being, and it seemed like the hits kept coming all year.

Loss, damage, destruction, strife…it was like our family was in a shipwreck and we were trying to put together the wreckage floating in the water, during a violent storm (and we had a few of those too).

During this painful time, I never lost my faith. On the contrary, my faith has grown leaps and bounds despite our family tragedy. We’ve all grown…we’ve had to. And while it is not easy to admit this, we all became stronger because of Athena’s loss, and Athena’s loss changed our view of the world.

It's interesting to see how my six-year-old Granddaughter views the world. Everything is possible; there are no limits. She put together an impressive Christmas List with the utmost confidence that she will get everything she wants. Jocelyn is terrifyingly fearless; as far as she is concerned, the world is hers for the taking.

Having raised two girls, I know Jocelyn’s outgoing nature is stronger than anyone I’ve ever encountered at her age. But it does beg the question, when do most people lose that childlike sense that anything is possible? When do most people stop dreaming? How often do you ask someone how their day is going, and they reply with something like “I’m surviving.”

Believe me, I understand how it can sometimes feel like you’re drowning in the day-to-day grind, then add a significant experience that drastically alters your life in the worst way and just trying to get through each day can truly feel like “surviving.”

We go through life and as “life happens” we lose our sense of purpose. Most people have dreams in their hearts that have yet to be fulfilled. Every so often they call out, and our instinct is to immediately push them back down.

“I don’t have what it takes to start that business. I’m too old to go back to school to change my career. No one would read the book I’ve always wanted to write.”

Athena’s passing was a wake-up call. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. She would want all of us to fulfill our life’s purpose and dream impossible dreams and manifest them all into reality.

While 2024 was the worst year of my life, 2025 will be my best. It has become our Bell family anthem.

And I challenge you to join me.

No matter what you have been through, or are going through, no matter what has happened before this moment, declare with Jocelyn’s childlike certainty that the best is yet to come. December will be the foundation that you build for your dreams to grow.

How many years have you had the same New Year’s resolutions?

This will be the year I open my own gym. This will be the year I start my online Personal Training Business. This will be the year I develop a Pre and Postnatal Fitness Program.

According to Pew Research.

• 49% of adults of the ages 18-29 made at least one resolution.
• 31% of adults of the ages 30-49 made at least one resolution.
• 21% of adults who are 50 or older made at least one resolution.
• In total, that’s 3 in 10 people who have made at least one resolution.

It’s really a shame when you think about it, 70% of people aren’t making a resolution, and of the 30% that are, 23% quit in the first week, and only 36% make it past the first month.

It is believed that about 9% of all people who make a New Year’s Resolution successfully achieve it.

I want you to rethink “New Year’s Resolutions” altogether.

This isn’t about getting past the second Friday in January, now known as Quitters Day. My wish for you goes way past that. I want 2025 to be the best year of your life!

Your what? Your entire LIFE!

And I want to share with you some of the exercises myself and my family are doing this December to make this happen.

Scripture tells us “Write the vision and make it plain.”

The very first thing I want you to do is take a pad and a pen. Carve out some time when you will not be distracted. It can be in the evening after everyone has gone to bed, or it can be a scheduled time in the middle of the day. But set time for yourself and really dream. I want you to imagine it’s December 31^st, 2025, and I want you to write out, what exactly would have to happen for you to turn to tell someone at your New Year's Eve party and say, “this has been the most amazing year of your life.”

This is about every part of your life. Your relationships, your health, your wealth, all of it, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, morally, artistically, and spiritually.

If you’ve read any of my previous Fitbits, you are aware of how much I believe in the Ancient Greeks' “whole man” philosophy. The Greeks believed that an individual had to develop every part of their being in order to be whole. I have never believed that more than today.

Permit yourself to dream. No one has to see this but you. Don’t let small minds convince you that your big dreams are too big.

Next, I want you to write out ten goals that will allow you to manifest your vision.

The biggest mistake most people make while setting goals is they tend to set goals that are either unrealistic to their current situation:

• Lose 75 pounds
• Save $500,000
• Write 6 books (guilty with this one)
• Pay cash for a multimillion dream home

Or too vague:

• Eat Better
• Get in Shape
• Save Money
• Be More Productive
• Do Better in School
• Make more friends

(For the record, while all these dreams are absolutely possible, you have to believe they are possible. If you are currently making $50,000 a year, saving $500,000 a year might be a stretch for you really to believe in your heart it is possible. This could be a 2–3-year goal. These top ten goals are specifically for the next 12 months.)

Write out your top ten goals for the year that will make 2025 the best year of your life using the SMART goal-setting method.

Unacceptable Goal

I will work out more often, so I will lose weight.

Solid Goal

I will lift weights Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 7:00 am, in order to weigh 145 by Thanksgiving of 2025.

Specific: Lift Weights

Measurable: 3 times a week, MWS at 7:00 am

Achievable: I currently weigh 160, and I can lose 15 pounds by Thanksgiving 2025.

Relevant: Thanksgiving 2025 I will be a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding, and I will look my best.

Time-bound: Thanksgiving 2025.

 As you write out your goals, make sure you check each of these boxes. It is not enough to have these goals in your head. You MUST put them on paper.

Several studies have shown that by just writing your goals down, you increase the likelihood of achieving them by 42%.

A study I came across in 2015 from Dominican University of California, found that more than 70% of participants who wrote their goals and shared updates with their friends reported successful goal achievement, compared to the 35% that did not write their goals.

After you have your ten goals written, put them somewhere you can view them every day. It can be on your bathroom mirror, your bedside table, or on the front seat of your car. Every time you read your goals; you reinforce your desire for them. This will help you make choices every day to stay aligned with your dreams.

If you feel the need to keep your list hidden, do so. But set a timer each day and be able to reach for them whenever it goes off. Keeping my dreams in my wallet, works for me!

The final step, but arguably the most important.

Create a dream board or dream journal. For every single dream, create a corresponding picture.

My daughter wants to become a writer, so she took a picture at a bookstore and stood in front of the shelf like her book was already there. If your goal is to get washboard abs, find a picture of your perfect body online, chop their head off, and place yours on top. If your dream is to travel to Rome, put a picture of your passport and the Colosseum, or photoshop a picture of yourself at the Trevi Fountain. If your goal is to save $10,000, print off a fake check and write in $10,000 by Christmas of 2025. Whatever your goal is, get creative and create a picture related to it in either a book (if you want to keep your dreams private) or on a dream board where you can easily view it every day.

Visualization reinforces your belief that your dreams are possible. Imagining what your goal would actually look like and feel like brings your vision into reality.

This whole process should take time. It’s not something that should be knocked out in an hour. Spread it out over a few days, or weeks. But get started now. Be ready to go on January 1^st, with your dialogue for what would have to happen for 2025 to be the best year of your life, your top 10 goals written on paper, and your dream book/dream board.

I would highly encourage you to recommend some if not all of these tips to your clients, not just for their health and fitness goals, but for every aspect of their life.

This will be our first Christmas without Athena. January 3^rd will be the anniversary of her passing. I know how difficult holidays can be for many people. I pray during this time you are able to find joy in small moments. I pray that you know in your heart that amazing things are still ahead of you.

You are still here on this earth for a purpose, and it’s up to all of us to make the time we have left here remarkable. We can choose to just exist. That’s the easiest choice, to harden our hearts due to the challenges life has given us, or we can dream. We can dream impossible dreams and make the life we have left something wonderful.

In closing, Athena and I founded the IFPA over 30 years ago. Athena was the heart and soul of the IFPA and did all the tough, hard jobs of building a successful organization. She handled all the difficult work of administration, logistics, finance, and personnel, while I got to do the fun stuff of lecturing and writing. The IFPA is more Athena’s Legacy than mine. She devoted over 30 years of her life to our IFPA Mission of helping every man, woman, and child to lead a longer, healthier, and happier life.

I would ask all of you in our IFPA Family to strive for excellence and leave this world a better place than what we found when we arrived here. The world should be a better place due to the efforts of each and every one of us.

May the Creator guide us and help us to achieve His purpose for each and every one of us.