Good morning!
Tomorrow marks the halfway point into my 37th year on this planet we live on. So I thought I’d checkin on my 40 x 40 list progress. In theory, my last checkin post (HERE) should have gone up in January (when I celebrated my 36th birthday), but as it turned out I only posted it just 2 short months ago. So not much new to report here…
I have, however, decided to take a step back with all the lists (I currently have three going: a 40 x 40, 20 for 2020 and a 100 Day Challenge). I’m going to finish out the 100 Day Challenge, but ease up and/or reevaluate the other two.
The reason being that I have neglected taking care of myself for a long time now. For at least a year, since my dad’s diagnosis last spring, but even longer than that if I’m being honest. I go through stretches where I focus on my health and wellness for a while and then I lose momentum and give up all together.
Recently I have developed a lot of joint pain and aches throughout my body. It’s strange and unsettling and has unraveled me emotionally. I’m too young to feel this way. I have to do something about it. And that something is prioritizing my health and wellness over all of my other extraneous goals (other than finishing the bathroom, I must do that).
I’m not going to completely abandon my lists, but just put more focus on the goals that make me feel better. I know the idea of these lists (at least for me) is to push you to expand your horizons, and I’m still all for that. And in due time I will return to them (or some version of them). I just don’t need another level of self imposed stress added to my mind right now.
When this light bulb went off, my first thought was to step away from the blog. But since then I’ve thought about it some more and decided to keep at it, for now. It’s one of the items on my list that I still love, because I love to write and share my design (and life) journey with you. I won’t beat myself up if I’m behind on my post schedule. I’ll let my self flow more freely and let it be fun again.
As I mentioned, I’ll be reevaluating this list, but for now here it is with some notes where I’ve made progress:
- Become a fur-mama
- Grow a vegetable garden – one jalapeño ready for harvest, one that’s just started and one itty bitty baby tomato so far! My herbs are a disaster. I wonder if it’s too late to replant some seeds..? I’m also attempting spinach, nothing to report yet!
- Be more natural – I’m not even sure what my intent was with this one, but with the whole pandemic mask requirements I’ve been wearing a lot less makeup and not really doing my hair because I have to tie it up to be able to stand wearing the mask all day. So by default does that make me more natural?
- Go on local adventures
- Visit Boston in the fall
- See the Grand Canyon
- Find relief from chronic back pain – I had been doing my physical therapy quite consistently, for most of June and my back felt pretty good (not perfect, but better), but then I fell off the wagon and the pain came back… must get into it again!
- Practice Pilates again
- Get strong
- Learn Italian
- Design books
- Write and publish an e-book
- Start refinishing furniture
- Design/make/sell jewelry
- Learn hand lettering/ script handwriting
- Perfect my signature
- Take more pictures
- Save more money
- Eat a Mediterranean diet
- Develop a proper skin care routine
- Practice meditation
- Practice gratitude
- Create art more regularly – I started a painting of my dad that I’ve been working on during the weekend, but I wouldn’t say it’s regular enough to mark this one as complete.
- Consume art and culture
- Become a member of an art museum
- Read 40 books – I’m behind on my book reading but this is still in the works!
- Be less selfish
- Be less serious
- Live with less – working on the decluttering phase, and also starting the paring down decor phase as well.
- Start a YouTube channel
- Learn to say hello in 40 languages
- Start an Etsy shop
- Reboot blogging
- Whittle down my wardrobe (create a capsule?)
- Start sending birthday cards & snail mail
- Reach 100 Instagram followers and post consistently
- Keep up with world news – I watch the world news almost every night, as depressing as it is of late..
- Be a better housekeeper & homemaker – Miraculously I find myself drawn to straightening up and doing chores more frequently, still a work in progress though lol..
- Do regular digital detoxes – I have set limits on my phone to turn off most apps from 7pm to 7am and to limit how much time I can spend on Instagram and Pinterest each day. I am also trying to use my laptop less and read magazines and physical books more… also a work in progress.
- Find balance
Do you keep life lists?
Many thanks and much love,
laf
Photo by Vinoth Ragunathan on Unsplash
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