Every year I share my goals + a follow-up at the mid-way point. I started getting into the habit of recording them here to keep me accountable, but there’s something about writing them out (even digitally) that makes it feel more legit. This year has been especially fleeting, filled with lots of change, so I felt very pulled to do an honest 6 month check-in. I like doing a check-in with myself every 6-ish months to reflect on how I spent my time and to assess how I want to choose to spend the next six months. Making little tweaks along the way.

This time around though, I want to take this as an opportunity to be extremely transparent about what the last little while has been like for me. It’s been bumpy – dealing internally with a lot of things outside my control. It’s hard to even explain without starting to sound a bit morbid… but when serious or dark things come up, they tend to quickly become front of focus. And, well, it’s taken me a while to fully be able to process everything that’s happened. When it involves family, it’s hard to be able to distance yourself (especially when you have kids) to protect your inner peace. I feel like it’s important to highlight, because in the past I’ve gone into detail on all the good stuff, but not necessarily the hard stuff. And I know I’m not the only one going through hard stuff.

I also wanted to share this because the past few months have been a real reminder of how important wellness and self-care is to my well-being. It’s easy to judge and think that things like skincare, baths and reading are ‘extra’ or superficial – like, who has time for that, but I’ve quickly learned the these are the things that are required for me to run on a full tank: to operate my business, to take care of my family & run our household. I have seen how I am (energy, mindset, motivation) when I make these things a priority in my daily life, and now I see how I feel when NOT doing them – not very good. I’ve talked about it like a domino effect, it’s like a chain reaction. Good or bad, it tends to trickle down.

Let’s take a look at the goals I set for myself for 2022 and see how we’re doing…

GET SETTLED: as you know, we are still in completion. We FINALLY just got our front driveway done, and now we can finish up on things like paint, downspouts, irrigation & some minor landscaping. As soon as we started making progress on the exterior, the concrete drivers went on strike! So now that we’ve finished our concrete work, we can get all the last little details up like our mailbox, doorbell and address. Still don’t feel fully settled. We’ve gotten most of our furniture that we ordered for the house, just waiting on our kitchen table to arrive. Right now, we are getting our back patio set-up, so that we can enjoy the rest of the summer out there and then we will start planning out our master bedroom. We currently only have our bed frame, so I’m looking forward to piecing together nightstands, lamps, rugs, linens and building the most chill vibe for our room. We will also be getting our master closet installed this fall, so there will be lots to do to make that a super cozy space.

TWEAK ROUTINES + LIFESTYLE: like I said, I have not been the best here lately and I’ve been feeling it, as a result. I don’t have much help with Ryder throughout the week while my husband is at work, so it can get tricky to tick everything off the list. BUT, recently I’ve kind of figured out a good routine for us. We walk together before his morning nap time, and then when he goes down I get on my yoga mat for a 30 min workout. That’s helped SO much, with feeling better, mental clarity and just starting that shift in how I’m feeling. It’s the first domino, that lends itself to a healthier path.

SELF-CARE & MINDFULNESS: I think one of the biggest things I’ve been missing (besides regular movement) has been my reading. I’m sure you know what types of books I’m hooked on, and NOT making this a priority has definitely hindered my mindset. I almost forgot how much it does help me create space to choose my thoughts more carefully. Best way I can describe it, is when I’m not feeding my brain right, things tend to spiral – like, I’m more rushed, things that never used to bother me do, I’m more reactive, short and pessimistic. Very unlike how I prefer to live, honestly. Now that we’ve acknowledged the importance of self-care, my husband + I work together to make this happen.

ACTS OF KINDNESS: this one is easy enough to do, without much prompt. It just feels good. Whether that looks like carving out time on the weekends to visit my Nana (Ryder’s great grandma), leaving a nice comment on someone’s Instagram, making someone feel seen, or just checking in on my younger siblings, it doesn’t take much.

EXPAND MY TEAM: this one, I’ve made strides. After taking a bit of hiatus from working together, Melissa (my lead of photography) is back working with me again, as well as Social District on branding & graphic design. The latest development being, bringing on management to help manage the day-to-day business, so that I can do my job of creating engaging content. We are also looking at investing into additional PR – but that’s currently being finalized as we speak. Exciting things! You may even notice a slight brand refresh coming soon…

I think this past little while shook me awake. It’s kind of made me take a long, hard look at what I want to do, what I want to say, how I want to show up. It’s been daunting, confusing, felt isolating at times, but I’ve learned to lean on my husband, my siblings, the very few, most special friends in my life to move on. You can’t get dragged down into the weeds bc others can’t get their shit together. Life is so weird and hard sometimes, but truly loving yourself, as dumb as that sounds, is the only way through the fire. You can’t just skip over the pain, you have to go through it to come out on the other end.

On a lighter note, I’ve slowly been coming back to all the things that make me feel my best. I’ve touched on what exactly those are in posts like these; here and here. And that chain reaction from that one domino? It’s starting to pick up momentum again. Check-back in six months xx