Today's newsletter we do a check in. It's mid September and we all know that the next few months of the year feel like they go double time. So time for a little bit of reflection and a question.
What did you want for 2023?
I like systems, habits, growth and self improvement. If you've been reading my newsletters a while, you might have got that idea!
At the start of 2023, I gave a bunch of suggestions for how you might want your 2023 to look and feel.
Whether it was picking a mantra or a quote for your 2023 year and you referring back to that when making decisions.
Other suggestions included; what did you want more of in your life, monthly challenges, focussing on adding more good stuff instead of removing the 'bad' stuff.
It wasn't about new years resolutions as such but more about what systems can you put in place and being intentional about how you could shape your year.
For me, it was about adding in some systems to do more of the things I wanted to achieve this year. Let's have a look at how I went.
3 Wins
Win #1 - 40 events
One of my systems that I put in place for 2023 was to try and attend 40 events (theatre, talks, sport, music, anything) over the year. I love Melbourne and all the fun things it has going on and really want to support the arts scene, post covid. And so having the goal of 40 events over the year really gave me something to work towards.
As of now I'm actually up to number 36 - which is pretty amazing!
This system has worked on so many levels.
I've had to book things in advance (which is not a strong suite of mine, spontaneous does not work for things that sell out!)
Friends have said this is on, do you wanna go?
When I can't be bothered and am tired, I make myself go anyway and always end up happy that I went
AND I've been to some really fun stuff.
I've toyed with the idea of changing the number to 50 but I don't want the extra pressure and I won't stop at 40. I already have enough things booked in to get me to 40 so will just see how many I end up at. Will report back at the end of the year.
What success have you had with your 2023 intentions?
Win #2 - My Health
Last year I got a bit sick and ended up not well for a while and so I really wanted to invest the time this year, rebuilding my health. Health is such a funny one because it's not like you can say ok that's it, I'm healthy now. It's the same for fitness. It's all about maintenance and maintaining or increasing the level of fitness or health.
A few weeks ago, I had the thought, of how different I am feeling from the start of the year to now. Often we take our health for granted until our body isn't working well.
I've set up some small yet achievable daily habits and made them a part of my routine and incrementally they add up.
What success/win have you had with your health or fitness?
Win #3 - Writing this Newsletter
One of my big intentions this year was to be consistent with writing this newsletter. And I've been almost weekly with it. But I haven't gone more that 2 weeks with no newsletter. I've said to myself that I can skip one but I can't skip two and I've managed to stick with that.
I love writing these newsletters and it thrills me so much, when a topic hits just right and you send me emails, feedback or comments. I love it - keep it coming. Last year i dropped the ball with writing the newsletter. I just didn't have the brain space for it so again I was determined to set a system up in place to make it consistent.
I've also just had to prepare too. Knowing that some weeks I have less time and I HAVE to write a newsletter because I've set the can't skip two rule in place, then you just make it happen don't you?
Where have you been mostly consistent this year?
And so enough about me, what about you?
What are your wins for the year so far?
Where have you had success with your intentions?
Remember that we don't need to have done things perfectly, they can be consistently inconsistent (see newsletter above)
What is different about you and your life from the start of the year to now?
Life has and will always get in the way. We never know what life is going to throw at us or the universe's timing of things but all we can do is small, tiny incremental steps towards the life and feelings that we would like and to know that we are always trying our best.
But the year isn't done yet...
There are still a few months left for 2023.
What were you planning to do this year this year that you haven't?
What have you started that you haven't finished?
What would you like to achieve?
How would you like to feel?
There is still over 100 days left in 2023.
That is plenty of time to create a new habit or system.
We are all doing our best.
I know I repeat this refrain a lot.
It's something I wholly believe.
I am doing my best.
I do believe everyone else is doing their best.
Everybody's best looks different.
Your best looks different each day.
So does everybody else's.
I am always about keeping it real.
And so in that spirit, there is a lot of things that I haven't achieved this year. Lots of intentions that I set out to do, that I left along the way.
There are books I haven't read, walks I haven't taken, places I haven't been, people I haven't visited, things I haven't started, recipes I haven't cooked (I've been a #girldinner fan for a very long time!)
But I'm not a fan of being hard on myself. There have been some successes and I'd prefer to celebrate those whilst working towards the other things.
I hope you too, might go gently on yourself and celebrate the small, tiny wins, whilst working towards the other stuff so that you can look back on 2023 and be happy with the year that was.
