Monday, 8/12/24: Talking about a mid-year check-in

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 and some 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 beautiful summer weather, time with Matt and my long run outside yesterday. 

TODAY: Today, I’m most excited to have some quiet time and journal this morning. 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to make my to-do list for the next day at the end of each day.

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

Meaningful Musings: Mid-Year Goals Check-In 

We are past the halfway mark of 2024! The official ‘halfway day’ was July 2, but nevertheless, I still like to make a point of checking in on yearly goals and intentions at some point during the summer.

I find this mid-year reflect to be a helpful check-in with myself. I like reflecting on the plans I had for the year, taking stock of (and celebrating!) any progress – and just as importantly – deciding to pivot on things that just aren’t working.  

So, let’s dust off those intentions and goals and check in!

2024 Intention:

My word of the year for 2024 is DELIGHT. Back in January, I wrote: “As I thought about 2024, themes of ‘celebrating’ and ‘enjoying the process’ and ‘presence’ kept coming up for me. When I thought of the word, ‘delight,’ it just felt right. To me, it means finding delight in the wedding planning process – both the fun and the stressful parts. It means treasuring trips planned with friends and finding ways to add moments of delights to a regular Tuesday evening. It means appreciating all that I have to be grateful for.”

While I haven’t necessarily thought of the word “delight” every day, when I think back on the last 7 months, I do see delight as a common thread. This is a helpful reminder to me to continue pursuing delight – both when it’s easy and when I might need to ask myself “how can I bring a little more delight to this situation?”

2024 Goals:
Personal Care & Growth

• Usher in a new decade joyfully. Yes! I turned 30 on April 11 and loved the way I celebrated. I took a few days off work and enjoyed doing some of favorite things – reading, journaling, reflecting, usually alongside a delicious meal or fun beverage. Plus, I had some great conversations with friends and family. It was such a wonderful birthday and I’m feeling very excited about my 30’s.
• Take BETTER, more frequent breaks. I think I’ve done a good job at this – both with taking longer stretches of time off work when I’m able to and trying to make work time work time and evening and weekend time personal time. There’s always room for improvement and one thing in particular I’d like to focus on in the second half of this year is building in daily breaks within the workday. Little anchors like a mid-morning walk around the block or stepping away for lunch that will energize me for the rest of the day.
• Updated makeup routine. I’ve made some great progress here. There is still some room for improvement, but I am feeling more confident in my overall makeup abilities – yay ! A gamechanger was finding the makeup brand Saie, which has affordable and easy-to-use products and tools. I’m currently using a mix of Saie and Jones Road products for a makeup routine that is easy and looks (and feels) natural. I’ve also heard great things about the brand Merit and may give them a try when I’m out of some of my current products.  

Health

• Continue my weekly workout routine. Yes! Happy to be in a routine I love with a mix of CorePower Yoga, running and Barry’s classes with Matt! 
• Incorporate stretching on a weekly basis. In January I wrote that “stretching is so important, yet I often deprioritize or forget about it.” Seeing how I completely forgot about this goal, that definitely still rings true! I don’t know why this is such a hard habit for me to form. I think I need to first outline out a few stretching exercises and then decide on day /time. Do you have any stretching routines you love? The easier and simpler, the better!     
• Master perfect pushup form. Also forgot about this one! But love this mid-year check-in as it’s not too late to start.

Relationships

• Celebrate my friends well. Yes! It’s been a big year for a lot of my friends and I cherish the memories I’ve made this year – from visiting a couple of friends to a quick getaway with high school friends to celebrate all of us turning 30, it’s been great. And there are a few more trips planned for the rest of this year too! 
• Monthly Chicago-centric dates with Matt. We haven’t tracked this one specifically, but I do think we’ve had a lot of fun going on adventures in our neighborhood and around Chicago. One of our favorite things to do is to bring a couple of conversation cards, go grab a drink or dinner at a place near us and take turns asking each other questions. 

Creativity & Fun

• Delight in the wedding planning process!! Yes! I wrote about how I was approaching wedding planning recently, but it really has been so fun and such a delightful pillar of this year. One of my favorite memories is when I was home in Orlando for a week in May. I told my parents it was a “wedding planning offsite” and picked a topic for the three of us to discuss each night after work. My mom even made a themed ‘drink of the night’ that corresponded with the topic, and we had a lot of fun discussing and planning different parts of the big day. 
• Establish a Monday morning journaling ritual. Thankful for this mid-year check-in to remind me of this one! I was going strong on starting my weeks with early morning journaling and then I’m not sure what happened? Recommitting starting today!

Home & Finances

• Continue tending to our cozy, calm apartment. Yes! Regular decluttering sessions, a weekly cleaning routine and monthly deep cleaning from our wonderful cleaners all contribute to making our charming Lincoln Park apartment feel cozy and calm.
• Maintain my savings systems. And feeling good here as well. Yay for automatic transfers and high-yield savings accounts!

Can’t wait to check back in on these goals at the end of year too! How’s your 2024 going so far?

Picture of the Week

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