This picture made me chuckle – after all of the hot weather we’ve had recently and then the rain today – I felt like I could relate!
We are now halfway through the year, yep you heard that right! I don’t know about you guys but I really don’t know how it has gone so fast, particularly as most of the year has been spent inside! It’s so nice to start to feel like we are coming out of the COVID craziness now and I for one have snapped up the chance to start to see some of my friends and extended family (at a social distance ofc).
What’s been happening?
So – for those of you that read my Hello June post, you’ll know that this month was all about keeping things simple. Not setting myself a large list of unrealistic goals and to just “go with the flow”. Trying to stay present and to be in tune with myself and listen to what my body and mind needed.
It’s been a really interesting month, and when I came to write this post I actually found it quite challenging because I didn’t set measurable goals to give an update on.
You guys may have noticed it’s been a little quiet on the blog front, (maybe not) it’s definitely been a month of self-reflection, self-development and self-care which is always good! I’m not going to go into all the details (don’t you worry) but here are a few things that stood out from this month:
Finding my artistic flare
So on the back of my 30 before 30 goal of painting a self portrait, I know that my drawing skills are a little bit rusty. I mentioned in a previous post that mum and I had started to have weekly life-drawing sessions. The wonderful thing about the internet, there are loads of art classes out there!
It’s fast become a highlight of my week – I love the challenge, the experimentation and the variety. I feel like I’m getting back in the swing of things and starting to find “my style”.
Here are just a few snaps of the pictures I’ve drawn this month. A real mixture of mediums ( pencil, charcoal and pen) and time frames…sometimes we only get 1 minute…which is both stressful and hilarious.
Couch to 5k…continued
At the start of the month I completed the Couch to 5k program, it was a big achievement for me and I was super proud of myself. If you read my blog post about it, you’ll know that for me… a 30 minute 5k run is a little (bloody) ambitious!
So this month I have been working towards reaching that 5k goal. If I’m honest, I had hoped that I would’ve got there by now – but I decided not to rush myself. I’ve done so well to avoid injury so far by taking it slowly, no need to change what works.
As of my run this morning, I am now doing 2.8 miles (I love how my run route looks like a heart!). 5k distance is 3.1 miles, so I’m pretty close and it’s something that should be pretty achievable for July (spoiler alert for tomorrow’s post).
Working on me – starting to see results!
So I mentioned earlier that I’ve been doing some self-reflection and self-development this month, which for me is always an interesting area. I’ve recently found that when you give yourself space, it allows for things to fall into place. Sometimes you can be working so hard towards your goals you forget to step back and gain perspective.
I’ve been working very hard (I’d say probably over the past year) to make changes that will move me towards a healthier, happier and more fulfilled life (you may have got this vibe from my blog so far). Whilst it’s not been the easiest journey I’m so proud of the progress I’ve made and I’m loving the person I’m becoming – she is pretty awesome!
I’m going to have to write another post about this soon…otherwise, I’ll have you here all night! But in summary, I feel like this month has been the month where the hard work is starting to pay off. Things that I’ve had to consciously think and push myself to do are now healthy, positive habits. There’s no doubt that I still have a LOOONG way to go, and there will be more challenges ahead of me, but I’m starting to feel more excited about the journey instead of scared!
Which approach you going to take?
Whilst I’ve really enjoyed having more flexibility this month, there have been moments where I have felt a little lost and unsure what to do with myself (cue endless scrolling through tiktok). I’ve discovered that I am a person who loves a plan, I like structure and I like to feel like I’m being productive.
I think going forward I want to try and find a happy medium between the two approaches. I’m going to give myself a bit of a structure, a couple of goals each month to work towards, but also give myself space to be flexible and spontaneous – because that’s where the fun and magic live!