How do I really want to be spending my time?

What would I do if I could do anything with my day and had endless time to pursue the things I’m interested in?

These are questions I’ve asked myself a lot lately. I don’t know if it’s because of the recent losses we’ve had in our family that are making me reset my outlook on life or if I’m simply exhausted by the grind and really just want to live my life on my terms.

Whatever it is that’s causing it I’m embracing it.

I’ve re-centered my days not necessarily around the things that I “have” to do but rather the things I WANT to do. Yes, I still have to pay bills and work on not exciting parts of my career, as we all do, but that means that it’s even more important to me that my time away from work is full of things that I love to do.

I make sure that I’m exercising in ways that are fun for me, I’m exploring new places around town with Mike, I’m making time to see friends and family, I’m creating in ways that feel natural to me, and possibly most important, I’m not waiting for things to happen to me. I’m pursuing the things that I want to do instead of putting them off for another day, because what if that “other day” never happens. I’m not trying to be morbid here, but instead, what if I just never end up making time for the things that I want to do in this life?

If I want to learn French I’m going to start opening Duolingo on my lunch breaks for a quick lesson. If I want to remodel a room of my house I’m going to buy the supplies and get to work. If I want to learn to embroider I’m going to buy a kit that will teach me how.

It dawned on me recently that I’ve wanted to write a book since I was a kid (in my 5th grade yearbook we all told what we wanted to be when we grew up and and I said author) so I just decided why wait to write a book and keep putting in off when it’s something I’ve literally always wanted to do? What am I waiting for?

My perfectionism would say “well you might not be good at any of these things…” and my rational mind says back “who cares!” We all start somewhere and in fact I expect my first efforts at anything to not be all that good. The first time I picked up a pencil I didn’t know how to draw. The first time I picked up a camera I didn’t know how to take a good picture. The first time I built a website I was figuring it out as I went. That’s how we learn.

So my month is full of plans and ideas that I actually want to pursue. And honestly, this is the most excited I’ve been in a long time.

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Monthly Goals

1. Cut Back on Caffeine

It’s probably no secret that we are mega coffee drinkers in this household. Name a form of making coffee and I’m positive Mike has it in our kitchen. But I’ve also noticed lately that I feel like I literally can’t make it through my afternoon without a 4 o’clock Starbucks run. I’m beginning to think it has little to do with the coffee and more to do with the idea of treating myself at the end of my work day. Either way, I’m feeling more and more like it’s a habit I need to break because the added calories of a venti iced white chocolate mocha probably should be relegated to an every-now-and-again type of treat instead of an everyday type of treat. Even if I do love them.

2. Maintain a Clean & Organized House

In order to help me maintain our 18 houseplants + our outside vegetable garden I’ve been using the app Planta to track all the watering, misting, fertilizing, etc. that our plants need. This has helped TREMEDOUSLY with keeping out plants healthy and thriving and they are all loving it! This got me thinking about the state of our house. I love a clean and organized space but Mike and I both are the types of people to let our house get to a point where it’s a huge undertaking to deeply clean it all. I wish I wasn’t this way, truly. I know a little bit all along is what keeps cleaning from taking over your life. So I’ve decided to start using the app Tody to track all the areas of our house and send me reminders of short tasks everyday in order to keep our house nice and clean. Basically you set the rooms you need to keep clean, select the cleaning tasks you want to focus on or create your own, and set a reoccurring reminder for each task or simply use the built in time frames as a guide. I’m super excited to see how this goes and if it helps us maintain our house throughout the month.

3. Journal & Reflect

My main habit tracker for this month is to journal in the mornings for at least 21 days out this month. I’m really wanting to take time to reflect on this year so far and also do little check-ins with myself throughout the month. My grief therapy has ended but good mental health I know is something you should always be pursuing and journaling has been a way for me to vent all the thoughts, doubts, stresses, and anxiety that sometimes overwhelm me. I get them all out of my head in order for me to feel good and in the right headspace to sit down to work and focus on my clients for the day. It’s a little thing, honestly, but just like cleaning, a little bit everyday goes a long way.

What goals are you focusing on this month? Any that are similar to mine? Let me know over on Instagram!

For this month’s free background I wanted to reflect the heat that is in full swing outside right now while also giving our screens a bit of leafy shade. For the free background there are versions for your computer, tablet and phone wallpapers. Just scroll down or follow this link and sign up to our newsletter receive your free download!

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