Well, here we are half way through 2018 already, so time for a proper review of how things have been going this year and what I’ll be focussing on for the next six months.

This year really has been full on so far, what with family things, college, work, travel. It’s always a juggle, but things really seem to have been to the extreme this year one way and another. In no particular order, this is what’s happened over the last six months:

• College – this is the really big one. This year I did 10 days of lectures, 7 days in the training clinic with real clients, 5 assignments and the viva. Phew! It really has been hard work and it’s strange to have finished finally (although in many ways the last 3 years have flown by!). Yesterday I had confirmation that I’ve passed with Merit and to say that I’m over the moon is an understatement! I’ve been working on getting things in place ready to start my business (see next six months!) but next week is holiday, so I’m going take a bit of time to chill out.
• Health – mixed bag here. On the plus side, it has been lovely to get back into exercise after last year’s injury woes, but with one thing and another I have struggled a bit with consistency this year. That said, I did tick off my goal of doing a race (albeit a very short one with the children) and I’ve entered a half marathon in October, so I have something to focus on now I have a bit more time.   Nutrition has been mainly good, although there has been a little bit of stress eating thrown in, but nobody is perfect 100% of the time, and hopefully that’s all behind me now college is finished.

I have struggled with stress and sleep a bit this first half. I have been making a real effort to introduce good sleep habits, my phone goes off at 9pm every night (unless I’m out late) and on school nights I’m pretty disciplined about having the light off by 10.30pm. My sleep quality hasn’t been great though, I drop off quickly but wake a lot during the night. I’ve stopped wearing my Fitbit (which tracks sleep) during the night as I was finding it quite stressful seeing how little sleep it claimed I was having!

Most of that stems from stress levels I think. I’ve been doing my best to manage stress, but it’s been very difficult, partly due to some heavy going months emotionally with Mum’s health and partly due to the sheer volume of tasks to be accomplished and the resultant lack of time to do anything relaxing, or get the nice to have stuff done. Need to get some balance back in the second half of the year.

• Work – this has been ok. My part time working arrangement was confirmed in March which was a massive relief and there have been some changes which have been great (like no longer supporting Nordics).
• Being creative – hmm, well this hasn’t really happened yet, mostly due to time pressures.
• Get more organised – this has happened, although there is still room for improvement. I’m being religious about the weekly plan, so I’m on top of food shopping etc.
• Family, friends and fun – some tough times family wise, but we’re through the other side for the time being. Have just about managed to maintain some degree of a social life.       Had our wonderful Caribbean trip, as well as two breaks in Dorset and some fun things like the festival last month.

 

Next six months

Well, the first thing I need to do is take a deep breath and just wind down a bit. I’m rubbish at just “being” so that’s a skill to improve. I’m an action orientated person though, with lots of plans, I just need to make sure I get the right balance between downtime, keeping the momentum going and being in an enthusiastic frenzy of just getting some stuff done!

Without going too deep and meaningful (hopefully), I want to reconnect with what truly makes me happy in the second half of the year. I’ve been so busy over the past three years, I feel a bit like I’ve been going through the motions with the rest of my life as it’s the only way I can really manage it. A good example of this is exercise. Because of my limited time, I’ve been doing this strength training app. It certainly fits in with my life (30 mins, do it from home) but I am so bloody bored of it! Last week I had the opportunity to do a body combat class for the first time in ages. I used to go twice a week until circumstances changed, but I really loved it and I’d forgotten just how much. Sure, I have constraints that I didn’t have 10 years ago, but that just means I need to get creative. I want exercise to be fun rather than a chore!

Exercise is only a small part of it of course, but there are lots of other things to think about. Is the time I’m spending with my family as good quality as it could be? Am I fulfilled by how I’m spending my downtime? Am I seeing friends as often as I’d like? The answer to all of those is probably no, or certainly not to the extent I’d like, so I need to figure how to make that happen.

There are a few life changes on the horizon too of course! I have some plans for my business, but these will grow and develop over the coming months which is exciting. I’ve been slightly in limbo currently as I waited for the ok to practice, but I’ve tried to use the time wisely so I’m good to go when I’m ready. We’re on holiday at the start of August, so realistically I’m not going to do anything before then, but I’m planning a soft launch when we get back, followed by more of a focus in September once the schools go back.

The other big news is that we’ve finally reached agreement with a builder on our house project, and it looks like we’ll be starting in mid-August! This is very exciting after such a long time getting to this point, but I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be a challenging few months on that side of things. I’m so fed up of living amongst boxes though, and I know it’ll be fabulous once it’s done, so am relieved that we’ve made it to this point finally.

So, lots going on (as ever). However, I’m feeling very positive and that the next few months are about building (literally and metaphorically!) rather than just getting through it, which is sort of what the start of the year felt like.