Project Zero

Can you believe it is November already?! Are you ready for the holidays?
I wrote this as an email to my current, or past customers to check in. The holidays can be a busy time and I thought this message would be worthwhile to share here too.
Some of you may have fallen off track a little in your fitness, want to get your nutrition on track or both, and I wanted to invite you to join me in a Project Zero Challenge.
Statistics show between Thanksgiving and Christmas people will gain between 5-10lbs, that doesn’t have to be you. What if you didn’t become part of this statistic? Here are some tips to help
1) Make a plan: Whether its what workout you will do & when, what you will eat before you go to holiday meals/parties or how much treats you will have, plan ahead! Don’t have a workout plan, I can send you some free workouts!
2) Drink water! Lots of it! Before your meal, during your meal and after! First thing in the morning, throughout the day! If you don’t know this already aim to drink half your body weight in ounces (i.e 150 lb person drinks 75 oz of water). It will help keep you full and decrease bloat.
3) Get your mind right, avoiding sweets, making time for a workout all starts with a decision. Imagine how it will feel to enter the New Year feeling better and stronger! Your mind is a powerful tool, use it!
4) Find a buddy, whether its you get involved in my virtual accountability group or you ask a family or friend to join you in your workouts, having a buddy is proven to help you stay on track!
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Here is my plan for the next 6 weeks:
This week 11/19-11/22- Finish up Round 2 of a 4 day a week Lift, HIIT & Core program
Fri 11/23-11/25- 3 Day nutrition cleanse, this will be my first time doing this, I still EAT food, but helps to reduce bloat (needed after turkey day), curb sugar cravings and lose inches.  This program is scientifically designed to help you: • Jump-start your weight loss, while staying full throughout the entire day • Get a clean break from any bad eating habits you still may have • Kick-start new, healthier eating habits you can incorporate into your life. It is so popular & effective that is currently SOLD OUT until Dec 3rd!
Mon 11/26-Dec 12/23- I will be completing a 4 week strength and agility program. It is a program that was originally released in August 2017, and I did 2/3 weeks, but I came up with excuses to not finish. So the re-release with the added workouts is motivation for me to get some redemption and try again.
From 12/24-12/31- I will be completing a 7 day cardio program in preparation for A 6 day a week, 20 minute HIIT program. I am so excited to check this one out when it becomes available in January.
Do you want to join me for any of the things that I am doing? Want to learn more about them, just hit reply!
Even if the workouts don’t appeal to you, there are nutrition programs I can also recommend to you to help you reach your goals.
What is your plan? How will you achieve Project Zero? Comment and let me know, thats what I am here for!
Wishing you and your family a Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving.
—

Sarah
P.S if you are interested in helping people with their health and fitness goals while earning some Christmas cash, I can help you with that too!

#MyFinal24

“If you had just 24 hours to live, what would you do with your time?”

 

 

 

The day before your whole life changes…

✨The day before your whole life changes, feels like any other day. ✨

I first heard this quote from Switched at Birth, (on Freeform about girls who got switched at birth and then meet each other after 15 years), but thought of it today as one of my best friend prepares for the arrival of her 2nd child.

I sent her and husband a text this morning saying “last day as a family of 3!”, and sending it made me think- their whole life is going to change. They know tomorrow is the day due to a scheduled c-section, and I just can’t imagine what must be going through their minds, knowing that less than 12 hours from the time I’m writing this, their lives will never be the same.

It also made me wonder, would you want to know the day a life changing event would occur? Some you can plan out/prepare for – weddings, graduations, buying a house, while others may happen unexpectedly- losing a family member, losing a job, getting into an accident that injures you, having a baby…

But either way, your life can change in 24 hours (often less), but the day before feels like any other day.

If you knew something good or bad was going to happen tomorrow, would you want to know about it or would you want to just live in the moment for the day you are in?

I’d love to hear from you!

Goal of Life

*The goal of life is not to have our lives mean something to ourselves. The goal of life is to have our lives mean something to others*

For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to make a difference to people.

I once considered being a teacher, but decided against that because I didn’t want to talk in front of a class all day (I used to be terrible at public speaking!)

In high school I was a swim instructor and lifeguard at a YMCA

Then I was a tutor and RA in college

My first job out of college I worked in financial aid helping student find a way to afford a higher education.

After some time feeling unfulfilled in government work,

I became a swim coach for a local club team

I found my way back into Higher Ed

Then added online health and fitness coach to my resume.

It is all these pieces together that remind me my joy comes from helping others.

I recently return to coaching swimming after a 5 month break to get my puppy adjusted, train for a marathon and address fatigue I was feeling. Working with kids again that I’ve seen grow up over the last 5 years brings fulfillment. Knowing that my one piece of instruction one day could finally make things click for them.

That’s my goal with online coaching too. It really fills my heart when my customers say “thank you for bringing this into me life”. Seeing progress both mentally and physically is what keeps me going and I know that is what gives my life meaning.

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On a totally different note, it’s been a long while since I’ve shared anything here- long story short in the last year or so I bought my first house (that needed a lot of TLC), adopted a dog, changed jobs, trained for a marathon, I have been working on finding my voice again that I feel I lost trying to be someone I’m not and a previous job took a huge mental toll on me. I hope this post will be the beginning to sharing more here again.

I have so many ideas in my head, or in my notes app but always say, “I’ll share that later” and that only makes me feel

More overwhelmed!

I started this blog because I’d hoped it would help and inspire people, and make a difference. So this is me working to get back to that.

Thanks for reading. ❤️

A journey of Perseverance 

Over the weekend I was sharing with a new friend about my goals for my business, how fitness has changed my life and how the reason I became a coach is because I want to share that with others. 
My journey hasn’t been perfect, some days I feel like a fraud because I make a big declaration only to not completely commit myself to follow through. Take for example this last 21 day program, I shared my Facebook page that my goal was to wake up and get my workout done first thing… that lasted about 10 days until my mind and body were telling me I needed a mental break. Then I started having knee issues and now it’s Day 22 and I still have 5 days left of the program, (which I am stil Planning on doing because then I get a sweet tshirt) but have accepted it didn’t work out how I had thought. 

Other times I have a great moment with working out and running that I am so thrilled to share. I achieve running goals I never thought I could do. Complete more consecutive push-ups or just make it through a workout easier than the time before. 

But it’s all a journey, a journey of perseverance. 

Perseverance isn’t something you demonstrate when things are easy. Perseverance is doing the things that matter when it’s the most difficult. It’s what drives you when you’ve got uncertainty and fear. Perseverance is seeing people around you complain (even if it’s your own inner voice – which isn’t you. It’s echoes of the people around you have said cruel or unnecessary opinions that had nothing to do with your potential.) Perseverance means still believing that the opportunity is huge, knowing the struggle is temporary, and remembering the imperative of our work is real. 

Perseverance. It’s what matters when your reflex is to quit. Perseverance is the only thing that separates the long-term success from the short term quick hit.

I haven’t given up on my fitness or my business because in my heart I am encouraged to keep going and see what I am really capable of when I fully commit- because I can’t honestly say I have every day. I’m going to keep persevering and discover what I can really achieve. 

“Perseverance supersedes talent, genetics and luck. There is no true success without it.”

In the business of Changing Lives & Chasing Dreams

Two posts in 2 days?! This is what happens when I’m on vacation! 

Today is the 1st of the month which marks another month of me taking the leap to become a health and fitness coach. It’s been 10 months now! 

When I first started I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, I just knew I was looking for fulfillment in a job. I loved fitness and sharing it with others so I thought this would be a great way to support, share and encourage others in health and fitness goals and find their strength, like I have. 

What I’ve found being a part of the Beachbody community is a group of like minded, positive and motivating people. People, especially women, who aren’t afraid to set goals and reach for them. Who want the flexibility of working their own hours and changing lives, including their own. I’ve met new friends from ALL across the country that I would’ve never met otherwise and have the opportunity to earn trips and other fun rewards. 

To me, this business is more than just home workouts, it’s making a commitment to yourself to challenge your body, mind and spirit. It’s pushing play on your workouts, and that practice carrying over to other parts of your life, it’s about not giving up. It’s discovering what you are really capable of, and being rewarded for it. It’s building confidence, self-esteem and belief in yourself. 

I’ve been afraid to share this opportunity with others for reasons I don’t really know, maybe because I felt embarrassed at first to tell the world that I was one of 400,000+ coaches and I NEVER wanted to be considered a salesperson. Maybe because I was afraid of being judged or hearing “no, that seems like a scam”(it’s not because that’s illegal). But over the last 10 months, I realize it’s SELFISH of me not to share this opportunity of owning your own business, a dream I’ve always had. We are in the business of changing lives and I am nothing but PROUD of that. Even if i wasn’t a coach I’d still want to be a part of this community and go to live quarterly events. 

It hasn’t always been easy to be a coach because things didn’t “just happen” and it requires work to be successful, it’s simple work but not easy. But every time I considered quitting, my HEART kept telling me to keep going, that I had a story to share and I needed to keep being that example to the world. “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why” 

So this month I’d LOVE to mentor 10 motivated and committed people who feel like something is missing in their life and want to explore an opportunity to help others and earn some income along the way. Once I started getting out of my own way, I started earning enough to cover my utilities, car insurance and cable/internet. What would that kind of extra income mean to you? 

(Disclaimer: Beachbody doesn’t guarantee any level of income, its depend on your own efforts) 

You don’t need to be a personal trainer, but if you are this is another avenue to help people reach fitness goals without adding more gym hours

You don’t need to be an expert in social media, or even in top shape, just willing to share your journey and life with others. You just have to BE YOU, and that’s how people will connect with you! 

Who is the perfect fit? 

➖Someone who has a HEART to help others with their health & fitness 

➖Someone who feels they are meant to SERVE others but just maybe doesn’t know how to

➖ Someone who is busy but is a hard worker and gets things done,because we’re all busy right?! But we make time for what matters 

➖Someone who is self-motivated and wants to work part-time hours on their OWN schedule, right from your laptop or phone to build something substantial

➖ Someone who is serious about their work but also know how to take a break and have fun with earned rewards and incentives. 

My current team, Team Exceed the Dream is on FIRE lately and we can’t WAIT to help more people change their life with you. 

So if ANY of this interests you, if you aren’t doing work you love and want more out of Mondays, or are looking for a side job, let’s chat and see if maybe this would be a good fit for you too!

Comment below or email me at sarahchasinglife@gmail if you want to learn more and lets chase dreams together! 

Finding Strength 

Hey There Followers! 

I know it’s been FOREVER! I don’t have any good excuses. But I’m back, and my plan is to be posting more consistently again because I’ve missed sharing my journey here, plus I’ll have lots to share as I train for my first marathon this fall. So thank you for continuing to follow me.

To get back in the swing of things….

What does strength mean to you? 

Strength to me used to mean that I was strong enough to lift a certain amount of weight, do pull up or any other physical activity. 

But what I’ve learned during my years of fitness is that strength is as much of a mental gain and is as important in your life as physical strength is. 

My fitness journey has never been about weight loss, in fact I’ve gained weight, but has been more about building mental strength more than anything else. Yes I’ve developed muscles, yes I’ve gotten stronger, yes I’ve gotten better at push-ups and pull-ups but what I’ve gained mentally can’t be ever touched. I’m more confident, Im always working toward a goal, I feel empowered , inspired and have a more positive outlook. 

What sticks out to me the most when I think about the last six years of my life is that when I first turned to running I found it was the one thing in my life that I could control. I was on the verge of losing my job at the time, working through a breakup and I just felt a little lost. A year and a half later I felt even more lost, I was even more unhappy with my job, I was going through a bigger heartbreak and I felt like as a 25-year-old, I wasn’t where I thought I’d be in life (expectations are bad I know), but it wasn’t helped that I was overly emotional due to side effects of medication from endometriosis. I used to look in the mirror and I didn’t even recognize the person that was looking back at me. I vividly remember spending half days in my bed crying, which isn’t like me AT ALL. Needless to say my self esteem was at an all time low and I could barely get through an every day conversations without crying. It got to a point where I started seeing a counselor because I didn’t know what else to do. Not many people know that, but it’s part of my story and I wanted to share it because I’m not perfect, I have problems too. 

After about six weeks of talking, I began to realize that the power to change my life lied within myself and between daily journaling and working my way through P90X (90 day strength program)!I was finding my way again. People around me started noticing physical changes (getting toned) but what they may not have seen was the mental changes. I pushed play everyday on my workout even if Infelt sore, I listened to my youngest brothers advice and I started saying yes to more things, to try to discover that elusive happiness and to do things for MYSELF vs for someone else and one thing I did was decide to pursue my MBA (one of the BEST decisions I EVER MADE) and that sent me on a trajectory to change my whole career and subsequently my life and that was in large part to have the confidence and the mental strength to do it. 

I thank the jobs that made me unhappy, the heartbreaks and the tears for leading me to where I am today. 

As a result of my fitness journey I have more positivity, I have a stress reliever, a goal to work toward and am a part of a motivated, encouraging online community which carries over to all areas of my life. 

That’s why I feel compelled to share my journey with others. In the hopes that you’ll be encouraged to say yes to yourself and discover you are capable of so much more. I’m no one special, just a girl who hasn’t given up. 

We are all stronger than we know. 💪🏼

First Race of 2017- Forks XV

The first words always seem to be the hardest for me. It has been 3 months since I last wrote, and what it really comes down to is I haven’t made this a priority like I used to. It is currently 5:30am on a Saturday morning, and I figured- “enough procrastinating already just rip the bandaid off and write something! It can be short, long and it doesn’t have to be groundbreaking just get back in the habit.”

The point of this blog was to share my running and fitness journey with a little life now and then, so I thought the easiest way for me to get back into writing is to recap my first race of 2017.

To give a quick recap of my running over that last 3 months it has been ok. I am not where I had hoped I’d be, mainly because I was having some knee issues that lasted for 2 weeks at the end of the February. I haven’t had knee issues for over 5 years so I didn’t know what was causing it. I ended up starting to wear a knee brace, and changed the cross training I was doing,  thinking maybe that was irritating it. It’s better now, not 100% but it gets better everyday. I am also nearly 15% of my way to my goal of running 1000 miles this year, I have mapped out the remainder of the year and with a marathon scheduled for the fall I expect to be able to achieve this goal but anything can happen in the next 9 months.

Onto the topic of this post, I ran a 15K on Sunday, March 26th. It was the 2nd oldest race in my area (44th Anniversary) that a few hundred people completed. After running for the last 6 years this is my first time running this race because with it being at the end of March, and a longer distance I wasn’t always trained enough for it.  The fun fact is that my Dad also ran this race 4 times in the 80’s, so it was fun to add that to a list of races we have both done.

I arrived at the race about 45 minutes before the start, and picked up my bib. The pick up was in a school, which was nice because it was about 40 degrees out. I stayed inside and warmed up in the hallways, listening to music, trying to clear my mind and get in the right mindset. I was feeling pretty good. I headed back to my car with about 15 minutes to go until start to drop off my race tshirt and sweatshirt I was wearing and then arrived at the start line with 5 minutes to go. Just enough time to get this picture 🙂


This race was my first big test of my last 6 months of training and recovering from a hip flexor injury. Despite my Dad’s warning, I ended up going out too fast on the first mile (I let my ego get the best of me), but found a good rhythm from miles 2-6.


It was a rolling hills course, and I paced with a couple different people until about the halfway point when I ran mostly alone but had others in my eyesight. My legs started to feel a little fatigued around mile 6.5, and then the hardest part of this course was from mile 7.75-8.25, a big hill. At 7.75 it was up and around a corner, and I had hoped it was ‘the hill’ everyone had referenced, but when I got around the bend and saw another hill I had a few choice words! Thankfully that 8 mile hill wasn’t as bad as it looked, after I got over that it was was downhill and flat until the finish. Unfortunately I started my kick a little too early and the last .2 miles I was hurting!

I finished in 1:21:26 (8:41 pace), which I am happy with considering it was my first time running the course, and I didn’t pace as I should’ve, I didn’t remind myself to ‘run my own race’ as I usual do during the early miles. There is room for improvement for my next race in 5 weeks, a half marathon.

Thanks for reading, I’ll post again soon, I promise!

 

P.S. February 22nd marked my 2 year anniversary of having this blog!

First Steps to 1000 miles

One week into the new year, and as committed to on my Facebook page, I am writing one blog post a week to share my fitness journey, which will include tracking one of my goals of running 1000 miles in 2017.

1/1-1/8/17 Recap

Sunday 1/1- Happy New Year! My first workout of the year was a Core De Force workout. These workouts are still a fun way to challenge my coordination and feel like a fighter!

My first run of 2017 was on Monday January 2nd. I decided to change up my ‘usual’ route and headed for some hills. My first mile was a steady incline for 330 feet. It was slow and steady but I wasn’t going for speed rather the challenge. During this run I thought a lot about how I made what seems like an ambitious goals with aiming for 1000 miles. But we only grow from our challenges, so I reminded myself that just like running up a hill, I will get to those 1000 miles 1 step at a time.

Tuesday January 3rd, my first day back to work in 10 days! Ugh, I had a really hard time getting up! So I only did about 20 minutes of Insanity Asylum Strength workout. It was better than nothing. I intended to finish the rest of it when I got home from work, but got home late, so that didn’t happen.

Wednesday January 4th I did the “Grab bag:Power” workout by Joel Freeman through Beachbody on Demand. I didn’t have a sandbag so I just used weights. I really liked it though, it was 35 minutes of circuit training.

Thursday January 5th I had an extra hour of time in the morning so I went for a run even though it was 20 degrees out. I was surprised when I started running that I was running an 8:15 pace (my “normal” pace is closer to 8:50-9:00). I have no idea where that pace came from but I was so pumped about it, only to have my watch die right at the end of it! Thankfully the data still saved, because I would’ve been bummed if it didn’t (runner problems!)

Friday January 6th was my last day at my former job, and I went to bed late the night before so had a super hard time getting up. Even an early morning text with my best friend seeing if she was working out too didn’t get me out of bed. I succumbed to the fact that I needed some rest on a day that would feel surreal and maybe emotional. So it became an unplanned rest day, filled with cupcakes and cookies too.

Saturday January 7th became a double workout day (to almost make up for yesterday). My first workout was at a Super Saturday Beachbody event, and after a very informative and motivational morning learning how to grow my coaching business, a group of 50 of us did Piyo Live with a Master Trainer. It was a lot of fun! Throughout the years I have thought about maybe becoming a fitness class instructor, but I am juggling too many other commitments. I talked to my best friend about this (I saw her over the weekend) and her response was ‘of course you would like it, but with what time’ haha. Maybe down the road. But either way it was a lot of fun, because I love Piyo and got great results from it.


Later that afternoon, I visited with a college friend that I haven’t seen in a year and half, and we were able to sneak away from her husband and 2 kids and I introduced her to MMA Speed (Core De Force). Again it was fun to do with a friend.

Sunday January 8th, I was staying with my best friend and we had agreed to go for a run together without realizing that a snowstorm was going through! The roads were COVERED, there were 15 mph winds and it was close to 0 degrees out. But we got 3 miles done, and felt soo much better about our day when we finished up.


Monday January 9th, was the first day of my new job and new schedule when I will be getting home earlier. It was also the first day of my January fitness accountability group. It was the perfect day to start fresh. Over the last few weeks I haven’t been following a workout plan as best as I could be because the routines were 45+ minutes and I wasn’t waking up early enough or the holidays, etc. But there is no benefit in listing excuses, so I decided to just start a new program (p90) in the hopes that the shorter workouts (30 minutes) and new routines would jump start my motivation to get back on track. Plus knowing 6 people are looking at me to be a good example, is keeping on track.

Thanks for reading. Did you make fitness resolutions? How are you doing with them?

Resolutions: 2016 Recap & 2017

2016 is officially in the books! Are you glad to see the year over? Was it one of the best years for you? Overall the year was pretty good to me. The first half I achieved some great running goals (at this race & this one) while the second half I had to work through an injury, I started juggling more swim coaching hours, trying a new fitness program, and just getting through a day at a time vs feeling like I am enjoying my life. Looking back on the last few months has made me realize what I really want my priorities to be and it is reflected in my 2017 resolutions (see below).

But first I need to finish up with my 2016 resolutions, and even though these are one of the least popular types of posts I write, I couldn’t go through the whole year and not write an update for December. So for those who are interested, here is how 2016 finished up for me.

to train for a marathon– At this point most of you know this didn’t happen in 2016, but it WILL happen in 2017 as I am officially registered for the 2017 Wineglass Marathon.

to find my true purpose in my career- Throughout the year I have alluded to how heavy this resolution actually is. A year ago when I made it I had hoped that through a course I could discover what kind of job was ‘meant for me’ by becoming more aware of my strengths. I have altered what I talked about in this section for the last few months, feeling like this goal would take me longer than a year to figure out. So I talked about how I decided to become an online fitness coach back in September and about a local leadership program I have been participating in.

But I actually have some news to share, an unexpected opportunity was presented to me a few weeks ago and I have accepted a new job(!!), one I hope will challenge me, where I will continue to learn, and potentially make an impact in my community. It was a really tough decision for me, for so many reasons that I could take up a whole blog post about, but I won’t get that detailed! I lost sleep over the decision realizing how much my life would change. I wrote pro/con lists, I had conversations with my closest friends and my parents and what it came down to was an amazing opportunity was being presented to me now. It means I will cut my commute from 50 minutes to 15, I can buy a house and finally feel settled where I live. It’s going to be a big change, and I am nervous because I don’t fully know what to expect, but I am taking a leap. My first day will be Jan 9th, needless to say 2017 has the potential to be a great year for me.

On another note, to continue sharing about my Leadership program. The first session of the month was on Diversity & Human Services- which focuses on educating us about food insecurity and the local food bank. This was a very enlightening day as I have been lucky enough to never experience food insecurity, but there are so many people in my community that are impacted by it. My group was so touched by some first hand stories of how a community center impacted them, how they all support each other to get to the store to shop, that we want our community service project to support the growth of the center.

The second session was on Business & Industry, we toured a local forklift manufacturing company. They produce 90 forklifts a day via assembly lines, lean business practices and it was really interesting to see how it all comes together. During the second half of the day, we had the opportunity to tour a museum of an International corporation that was founded in my area, and heard from current employees about their various jobs. It got a little technical so I found the museum more interesting. This program is more than halfway over now and will end in March. So only a few more months of these updates 😉

A quick update on my online coaching, I am slowly growing it, I am trying to be consistent but I know there are still room for improvement in order for me reach the goals I’d like. I am excited to work with the small group that is taking steps to a healthier new year.

to treat others better and think before I speak– Overall this resolution was challenging because it didn’t follow SMART goal guidelines, but overall I have tried to be better about this, especially holding my tongue, but I feel it’s had more to do with me just getting older and wiser.

to do things outside my comfort zone– see the above on taking a new job! I can’t think of anything else in December that tops that!

Read 25 books in 2016– This did not happen, this goal turns out was a little too ambitious. I only made it to 16, and have made little progress in 2 months in the current book I am reading. This WILL change in 2017.

to reduce clutter in my life– As I mentioned last month overall I feel I have been successful in this goal, but made no specific steps forward in December. With a new job closer to home I hope to ‘catch up’ on ‘clutter projects’ I have let fall into the ‘someday’ category.

to eliminate excuses and procrastination– Over the last week specifically I have tried to be productive in the 10 days I had off from work, I had a list of things I wanted to get done, and when I was feeling overwhelmed that I wouldn’t get it all done, I just took the time to schedule tasks out on the days and I feel good that after this break I balanced being productive with some R&R.

Overall, reading through these resolutions, I realize I actually fall into the category of most people- that I was very successful with my resolutions but I feel I made a good effort. Some were better than others. Some were easier to track than others. This is the first time I have reviewed my resolutions every month, so it’s been a learning experience that has impacted my resolutions for 2017.

So what did I decide? I wrote up a post a few days ago regarding my running resolutions- which are so easy to track, check those out here. I am very excited to pursue those. Besides those, I also WILL (not want, not hope to, WILL)

  1. Write in my journal at least once a week
  2. Attend church 2 or more times a month
  3. Read 18 books throughout the year
  4. Write a blog post at least once a week, I was doing good on this through July of 2016 but started slacking when I got injured with my running.
  5. Don’t over commit myself, and not feel the need to say yes to everything and everyone and leave room for time for myself.

I want to keep my resolution list short so I can be successful. Did you make resolutions for 2017? How will you stay accountable to stick with it longer than 4 weeks?

This post is long enough, if you have read this far, THANK YOU!! I hope you enjoy following my journey of striving for more in life and the opportunity to grow.

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year.

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