Monday, 11/8/21: Talking about notes from October and a few Instagram posts

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for the absolutely beautiful weather, my long run on Sunday, and seeing Katie Couric while I was on said long run (!!!!).  

TODAY: Our stretch of great weather is continuing in Chicago today, so I’m most excited to get outside for a bit before I start working. 

INTENTION: My intention for this week is to add a simple gratitude practice to my morning routine. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Meaningful Musings: Notes from October 

Last week I took time to do my monthly routine of looking through my photos and calendar and jotting down a quick list of memories from October. I’ve absolutely loved doing these recaps this year. I feel like I’m always focused on the next thing, so it’s nice to have this ritual to prompt me to stop, reflect and recount what happened the previous month. 

On to the recap! 
 
October’s 10 Things: 

1. I went to my first Chicago Bears game! My parents came into town and it was so fun. Glad I was able to see a game at Soldier Field before a potential move to Arlington Heights! 

2. I read two thrillers in October – Not a Happy Family and The Plot. Both had slow starts for me, but what I love about the thriller genre is that once you are hooked, you can’t stop reading. A nice little metal escape. 🙂

3. But in general, October was not a big reading month for me because I spent more time than usual watching TV. I watched season 1 of Ted Lasso in about a week and a half (LOVE) and now I’m almost done with season 2 (LOVE x2). I also started FX’s Impeachment one rainy weekend and think it is really well done, although definitely heavier to watch than Ted Lasso.

4. I went into the office for the first time since March 2020! My office is open, but attendance is optional for now. I’m loving coordinating with some co-workers and going in once a week for a change of scenery.

5. Speaking of co-workers, three of my friends from work and I started doing a monthly Sunday dinner at a favorite Italian restaurant. It’s been so fun to chat and hang outside of a work setting.

6. I’m not really a Halloween person, but on Halloween this year I went for a walk around my neighborhood (Lincoln Park) and loved seeing all the families out trick-or-treating. LP goes all out with the Halloween decorations, so it felt super festive. 

7. Went to my first concert since early 2020! My friends and I saw Jungle at the Riviera. I didn’t know much Jungle music before going (I took a friend’s ticket who ended up being out of town) and the one song I DID know they didn’t play, but it was still a really, really fun night 🙂 

8-10. And I wrapped up most of the items on my Fall Fun List! Love these seasonal bucket lists of sorts 😉 

• Fully enjoy football season. Check! So much football this year – went to games at UF, Notre Dame and Soldier Field and had so much fun watching various games on Saturdays in bars with friends. Loved all of it, even if the UF football season is shaping up differently than expected. 
• Drink pumpkin beer with my parents when they visit Chicago in October. Didn’t find any with my parents, but my mom recommended Sam Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale and I loved that! 
• Curate a fall capsule wardrobe. Well, I have had some fun (maybe too much fun?) shopping for fall and winter clothes, but as far a “capsule wardrobe” in an effort to limit impulse buys…? Haven’t been great at that. 😉 
• Bake a fall dessert and cook a fall-themed dinner at least once. Made this chili twice as well as this zucchini bread, pumpkin muffins and these chocolate chip cookies. Love fall cooking and baking! 
• Go on a long, leisurely “leaf-peeping” run. I did a couple of these! I love running in Chicago in October and I’m so happy to be building up my mileage once again. Yay!!  
• Start Cheese Board Sunday! This was fun and I can definitely see myself doing this post-Fall Fun List. I loved having a Sunday evening ritual.

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• I finished the book The Plot last week and it kept me guessing until the very end. The book is by Jean Hanff Korelitz, who also wrote You Should Have Known, which was made into HBO’s The Undoing. This thriller is about a struggling writer who enviously hears an amazing idea for a book from one of his students. Years later, when he has learned his former student has died – seemingly without finishing the book – the writer steals the plot and promptly becomes a household name and the toast of the literary community. But then the anonymous foreboding messages start, signaling someone knows what he did. While the book was a slow start for me, once I reached the halfway mark, I couldn’t put it down. It flips back and forth between the story of the writer and of the book he wrote. I thought it was such an interesting idea for a book and begs the question… who owns a story?  
• Loved this interview with TODAY Show anchor Hoda Kotb about “everything happening right on time.”  My favorite quote from the article was as follows: “Your life is filled with exclamation points, highs and lows. So, you have a day where it’s graduation, a baby’s born, a marriage, you lose someone…a divorce. These are all exclamation points. But most of life is just Wednesday. Just a regular day, and I think if you can find joy on the Wednesdays when you don’t have something special happening, or some great event, that’s the best.” Yes!!!
• This Instagram post gave me similar feelings as the article above. A great reminder for the beginning of the week! 
• I liked this podcast episode with 10 suggested rules for holiday gift giving. The holidays bring a lot of fun and joy with them, but there are also many things about these next two months that can be stressful. I thought this episode did a great job of offering some tips to simplify gift giving.  
• If you are a Hamilton fan, you need to watch this video right now. Adorable!!

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan

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