Monthly Checkin: January

While I feel ever so grateful in various parts of my life, and feel lucky to have so many wonderful things to celebrate each day, occasionally I get a feeling of emptiness, that something is missing within me. For the longest time, and still, I believe that something within me is missing, or should I say needing to be fulfilled – a lifelong dream of volunteering in Africa. Although, I’m not saying that I will never accomplish that goal, it’s just not quite possible at this moment in my life. And so it got me thinking that I need to work harder on fixing myself inside out. To follow the inspirational and life changing Gabrielle Bernstein‘s teachings, to embrace my “ing”. 

I recently came across an inspirational post from Rhi of Hey Gorgeous Events who wrote:

“The in between is where life happens…We know where we are coming from, and what we’ve been through, we have an idea of where we want to go and how we should get there. But NOW, the IN BETWEEN, the in between is where contentment is found…when you’re not quite there but you’re doing your best, succeeding and failing along the way, where you’re able to find a peace in the in between, that’s when you’ve found true contentment.” 

And in a sense these small but important goals I’ve set for myself this year, are setting me up for that, for true contentment. So a month has gone by, just the first of more opportunities. So where did I succeed, where did I fail? As bloggers, we often opt to write about the positive things, the pretty things, never the problems or recipes that go wrong. Although, I may not have accomplished everything on my January goal list, I did foster habits that are now part of my daily habit. 

1. Make career choices to foster growth-Achieve: I made a wonderful connection with an amazing wedding planner and designer, hoping it’s the beginning of great things creatively for my career.

2. Meditate Everyday. This is probably the habit that has stuck with me the most. I really dedicated myself to meditation, starting with just 5 minutes for the first two weeks, then being able to sit for 10 to even 15 minutes in silence – mediating on different parts in my life. I got the Lucent App, which reminds you to do your daily mediation, helps identify your mood, and allows you to record down your insights. If you’re not sure where to start with mediation, I suggest picking up “Add More ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness” by Gabrielle Bernstein.

3. Take pilates & yoga classes. Okay, I’ll admit I completely failed on this one. I did add a few yoga routines during at home workouts but I never actually made it to the new studio in town. But that will carry over to the next month, where focusing on no longer making excuses, will most likely make me get to classes, instead of blaming it on the cold and weather. 

4. Embrace my emotions. I definitely have used meditation to help me control and understand my feelings more. I still have moments when I get overworked, but I feel I will get better through the next month.

5. Commit to beauty health routines. I’ve been great about taking daily vitamins, using weekly face masks and body scrubs, and drinking more tea instead of coffee in the morning. This habit is definitely sticking, I’m even planning a mini spa day to take extra care of myself next month.

6. Stick to a month exercise plan. My Nike Training Club app will tell you otherwise, but I did workouts according to how they fit with my weekly schedules, and since I didn’t actually do some workouts on the day programmed, they didn’t count, by looking back through my planner I stick to most of my plan. The important thing is that although the scale hasn’t moved much, I feel more confident about my tone and stronger body.

7. Make Me priority. I think that I definitely took this time to seclude myself, even at home just to do things I wanted, like listen to music or make some crafts on my own. If I wanted to relax, be myself watching a good movie, I did it. I’ve allowed me to just be myself, and I can tell my true self becoming more evident to those around me.

8. Declutter technology. I cleaned up my phone, deleting some couple hundred photos and freeing valuable space. Reworked and updated my business forms, sorted out documents, cleaned up photos and other applications, and unsubscribed from mailings that were irrelevant to me right now.

9. Schedule posts to make more free time.  I’ve learned that the beginning of the week are my days to sit down to write the content, then editing or designing photos. The other half of the week I’m either reaching out to clients or potential connections, making recipes or creating a new craft. It definitely feels like I’ve gotten into the flow of balancing working from home, it feels good to have a bit of the work routine again. 10. Start running again.  I haven’t hit the pavement outside yet, because it’s been just a bit cold, and now with the mounds of snow it makes it even harder. If I was training for a race, like I was this time around last year I would definitely be running on better days. The days that I have run at the gym felt great. Although I’m slower than my normal pace, for having ACL surgery just six months ago, I ran at a fairly good pace, and it feels great.
11. Just Breathe.  

January had its great moments, ones that instilled good habits, but also made me realize areas that I need to continue to work on throughout the year. Overall, I am well on my way towards accomplishing two of my major 2015 goals of being “Diana”, being nice to me, and pushing myself physically. Can’t wait for what February has in store for me.

Did you set goals for the new? Loved to hear how this year has been treating all of you?