January is often thought of as a time for new beginnings, clean slates, and fearlessly stepping into the unknown of a new goal.⁠ ⁠We think of it as more a time to prepare. To build on hard-fought miles amidst the oppressing dark, and ensure you are in the best possible position to squeeze every last drop out of the increasing light.⁠

Montane Ambassador Jordan Wylie says: “What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.” Taking stock of motivations, successes and weaknesses, and being mindful of their effects will set solid foundations to build your aspirations on going forward.

This year - more than others - offers the chance of peaceful reflection. With external forces effectively pressing the worlds’ pause button offering athletes and enthusiasts alike a reprieve from what could be perceived as relentless competitiveness, or the constant societal pressure of needing to do more.

Treat it as a moments’ pause, and the final inhalation before the world hopefully explodes into blossom in the warming light of a world desperate to fulfil a years’ worth of pent-up ambition. Before we know it challenges, personal goals, and maybe even races will start to bud back into existence, and we have the perfect opportunity to prepare for them.

It is an exciting time, but to think of it as a time to start afresh discredits your journey up to this point. More accurately, it is a time of transition. An opportunity to build on whatever you have, plot a course towards something you want, and being to take manageable steps towards achieving it.

There is no completely right or totally wrong way to do this. Everyone is on this journey together, and regardless of how fast you are, how far you can go, and how hard you push, the bonds that bind us together are stronger than the tests thrown at us. It all depends on where you are and what your goals are - or what you are bringing into 2021 and what you want out of it.

The important thing is to be measured in your approach, and resolute in the face of effort. Before you know it 'fearlessness' just looks like good preparation. ⁠