halfway there: a midyear check-in

By Nicole in week in review, year in review on July 20, 2019July 20, 2019

We officially passed the 2019 mid-way point a few weeks ago, which is both hard to believe and not — just like how some moments pass so quickly you can hardly keep up and others creep along excruciatingly slowly. But, however quickly the time seemed to pass to get you here, here we all are.

If you haven’t noticed, a find much joy in planning and reflecting. I try to take time for this daily but, at the very least, do so weekly. Those activities tend to lean more tactical, which is why I do my best to take time to step back from the tactical and view through a more strategic lens via monthly reflections (in the form of posts here), quarterly/seasonal check-ins (e.g., wheel of life) and annual reviews and planning — and, in the case of this post — mid-year.

And, while I adore a good checklist (like, ADORE), it’s also important to check in a bit deeper than a bunch of crossed-off items. How am I doing? How is my soul doing? How do I feel about the year? Are things going the way I envisioned? If not, what is in my control to change? What do I need to just let go of? What should I start, stop or continue?

I won’t bore you with all of the details to the answers of the aforementioned questions but would challenge you to use them for your own mid-year check-in. What I will do is include a list of highlights for my year so far, because I can’t not (see above ADORING re checklists).

Highlights:

Reasons to celebrate: one-year wedding anniversary, two-year dating anniversary, hub’s birthday, the return of peonies and farmers’ markets
Adventures with the hubs: California + whale watching, Alaska + cruise, Seattle, Austin
Work trips: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin
Just for fun: Rockies game, French high tea, theater (A Bronx Tale, Xanadu, A Play That Goes Wrong, Hello Dolly!), Dior exhibit (Denver Art Museum), DaVinci exhibit (Denver Nature and Science Museum), ice castles, book club
Self-care: spa days + massages + pampering, three therapy sessions, Growing the Good
Connecting with those we love: family visit + hosted, girls’ weekend + hosted, many dinners and drinks with local friends
Create: 20 blog posts, hosted five Weekend Writers/Denver Creates sessions
Career milestones: product go-lives (internal and enterprise-wide) + huge successes
Always be learning: Cooking class, fluid art class, Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing
Welcomed to our family: New tree + foster pup
Read 30 books (favorite so far: Becoming)
Giving back: Children’s Hospital x2
Continued auest for less + donations
The difficult stuff: Paused writing group, post-achievement blues, passing of friend’s little one, battled horrible cold, healed after bike mishap