Back in January, I shared my word of the year and my goals or focuses for the upcoming year. While this is happening a bit after mid year, I did a recent check in with myself as to where I was at in the creation of these rhythms and routines and thought it may be helpful to share. As a reminder, my word of the year is space and my three focus areas or goals are a space for love, a space for living, and a space for legacy. So let’s see where we’re at, shall we?
Space for Living
Space / Home
- Doing my third round of the contentment challenge in Q1 – I did this and it went well until it didn’t. You can read about that here.
- Donation pickup 2x a year – We did one pickup earlier in the year and have one coming up shortly.
- Powerwash the house – Teddy did this before we left for Alaska and the house looks so much better
- Organize the Garage – This is approximately 10% done. Teddy and I broke down this larger task into 1-2 smaller tasks per week to get this done in the fall. I don’t love the idea of spending an entire weekend just on a garage, so for me working on it a few hours in the evenings each week seems more realistic.
- Create a space for both Teddy and I have to have our own space – Teddy officially has his own man cave that is also our guest room. As I’m typing this, he’s upstairs putting deer mounts on the walls and decorating with outdoorsman antiques he’s been collecting.
Finances
- Focus on continued margin in finances – We have planned and paid for our wedding and honeymoon as well as events related to the wedding this year which feels great.
- Grow investments – On track with these
Recreation
- Spend time outdoors and camp – We’ve gone on a few camping trips so far this year and have some more upcoming in the fall
- Visit at least 1 new state and National Park – In Alaska we got to do both of these!
- Quarterly retreat for rest and relaxation with Teddy – In Q1 we went to the Poconos, in Q2 we went camping over a long weekend, and in Q3 we spent a relaxing weekend at the beach.
Personal Growth
- Quarterly space for me to write, reflect, and learn – This one I’ve stuck to!
- Quarterly focus for reading, journaling, and learning – The focus for Q1 was consistency compounds and for Q2, the focus was contentment. In Q3, the focus is on love.
- Document books, podcasts, and other learning – So far I’ve read about 38 non fiction books this year and have enjoyed a variety of podcasts. I’ve also taken a few online courses on different topics.
- Practice Sabbath weekly – This one we’ve done a great job keeping as a weekly rhythm and it’s so life giving!
Space for Love
Loving God
- Reading the Bible chronologically throughout the year – Still on my way through this though I’m currently a few weeks behind.
- Praying daily – This ebbs and flows. Some days it’s very natural and other times it’s not. This is an area to be more intentional about through the end of the year.
Loving my home
- Making my office space one I enjoy spending time in and provides a space for creativity – My office is now my favorite room in the house.
- Schedule opportunities to share my home with others and create spaces for community – We’ve been able to host people at the house for a few different occasions and have plans for others in the fall and winter months
Loving my self
- Determining monthly fitness focuses – running, peloton, hiking, ect. – This one has had peaks and valleys. I was running at the beginning of the year, then hiking but got sick and had about 6 weeks of pretty minimal activity. I’m back to walking and hiking now and some weights. As of this week I hit 4K minutes of Peloton workouts.
- Focus on healthy routines including sleep, food, and my morning and evening routines – Also some peaks and valleys. Morning routine lately has been going great, but prior for a few months it was sporadic at best. Evening routine is not great, but sleep is going very well with about 7-8 hours a night.
- Weekly planning – I’ve been trying to plan on Fridays which makes the whole upcoming week easier
Loving others
- Continued training for Remington – Remington has been great and we’ve been able to take him on camping trips and to the beach. We’re so proud of him!
- Being fully present without distractions on a phone – Sundays have been the best day where I forget my phone exists. Throughout the day and in evenings I’ve tried to be more diligent for putting my phone in my desk drawer or in another room.
- Continue to host and participate in bible study group – This has been going well too! We took some time off over the summer but have had great community together and I’m so thankful for the group.
- Date night with Teddy weekly – I think we’ve done this almost every week of the year!
- Daily prayer with Teddy – Has definitely not happened every day. I think we have done this a solid 30-40 days if I had to guess so far for this entire year.
Space for Legacy
- Continue to add to my commonplace book – I have not added to my book at all, but have added some of this to my lists in Notion.
- Write more intentional blogs on learning and reflection – I’ve posted about 25 blogs In this category so far this year.
- Make blog adjustments with a legacy focus – Some of those 25 mentioned above include these too.
- Continue writing project – This went well and I finished the project! More will be shared on that in the upcoming months.
