Mid-year check-in

How are you? I hope you're getting a bit of a break during this lovely long school holiday? I love this time of year, most days no one has to be out of bed toooo early while it's still cold and dark. There is Wimbledon to watch on the telly (our annual splurge on DSTV for tennis and cycling has begun!), there are local strawberries to eat, aloes are flowering in the garden and the Winter sun is most often glorious. I've always thought of myself as a Summer person, but the older I get the more I seem to appreciate Winter.

Another quarter has finished, we're half way through the year. I thought it might be a good time to do a little check-in. I wrote about intentional reflection time in a blog in March at the end of the first quarter. You can read that here. If you used any of those reflections in March, you could re-visit them and compare where you're at now. That can often be useful.

I am working on some new things with colleagues (hooray for partners in work!!), so I am very much asking myself some questions about what I want to achieve before the end of 2025. My reflections are very much a mix of professional and personal. Come and reflect alongside me!

I think a good reflection starts with celebrating wins!

What are things to celebrate from the first half of 2025?

I'll share a couple of mine...

Second child happily settled into High School and thriving - woohoo!! (It can be a really tough journey so I do not take this for granted)

I moved in to my new offices on 1 February and I love it so much!!

I did 8 Miles in the Ocean and raised money for charities doing this! I wrote about this adventure just before I did it. Feedback: IT WAS AWESOME!!!

After stopping to celebrate some wins, look ahead to the rest of the year.

Who is the person I want to be by December 2025?

We are and are becoming who we were created to be. In what ways do I want to step into being more my true self, and not what I think others expect me to be?

I have done a number of talks this first half of the year, which has been really fun, I have so enjoyed it. And, I am thinking of ways I can improve and become the best speaker I can be. Questions I am asking myself; what does it look like for me to be a good speaker? How do I need to improve, what do I need to work on?

On a personal front, I am a mother of teenagers, how do I be better mom of teens? Where do I need to change my approach to my children to match their developmental stages?

Following on from this reflection, perhaps some goals or intentions might emerge.

Set some intentions to achieve before December 2025

Think about what you really, really want to achieve before the end of the year. What would it look like and feel like to achieve that? Be as specific and realisitic as possible.

My intentions feel too personal to share, but what I will say is that it can be incredibly helpful to talk through intentions with someone like a qualified Life Coach. I have done this in the past and found it to be a catalyst to great change. You can find life coaches with different specialities that focus on the area where you are wanting to see change.

Wishing you some joy-filled moments through this Winter time. I hope you do get some time to reflect a little, even if in moments, and that you are able to celebrate something, no matter how small.