A Mid-Year Check In

The other day, my friend and I were discussing New Year's Eve. I don't know how we got about to this topic, but it happened. My friend was arguing with me, trying to prove New Year's is stupid and arbitrary. You could pick any day of the year to "reset your goals". Everyone picks New Year's, and then never holds to the promises they make.

And I didn't disagree. I've made my opinion on New Year's Eve very apparent: I think that it's stupid. I think it's always a let down, and many years of resolutions have been broken and forgotten by February, let alone the next year. However, I still like the idea of using New Year's as a checkpoint. A point to reassess your life, and the track your on to make sure that you're doing what you want to be doing. And what better way to hold yourself to goals than to announce them publicly.

So, on New Year's Day of 2019 I posted four "themes" I had for 2019. And seeing as July 1st is about halfway through the year, let's check in to see how they're going.

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Original New Year's Post

Theme numero uno: Health. This is definitely my most "back burner" goal. I haven't started working out still, but I've definitely shifted my focus slightly. In May I went 31 days without sugar, as a bit of a post-exam cleanse. Since then, I've fallen off the wagon.

No Sugar Month

But I'll take progress as progress. In addition, I'm walking a lot more. I've started walking to work which is in and around an hour (my coworkers have taken to making fun of me relentlessly for this). It can seem a little tedious sometimes, but it gets me outside which is kinda two birds with one stone. Plus I get go to work. Three birds, one stone? 

The next theme was social media. I wanted to consider social media as a job, something that needed to get done. Not something to do when it was convenient. Focus on growth on my social media platforms. I'm still learning to balance everything, but I'm getting there. I even got Twitter. I never use it, but you can't win every battle. 

Twitter Post

However, this goal can be so frustrating. As much as I want to disconnect, to enjoy just being somewhere, social media feels like this necessary evil. An unexpected aspect of this theme, was learning to balance my use on social media. Scrolling through Instagram isn't productive, but writing a blog post or editing an Instagram post? That qualifies as productive. 

Next theme you ask? To study harder. To be honest, I did pretty well in this department and I am super excited for my classes in the fall. But as much as I'm open and honest about my life, publishing my grades is not something I'm going to be doing. Moving on. 

My forth and final theme was new music. Right off the bat I shared two new songs: Steady and I Just Want To Be Loved. I love both of these songs, and I think they're representative of the way my music is moving. But it kind of felt like the stereotype of a resolution, analogous to getting a gym membership.

At the beginning of the year you get your shiny new membership and go twice a week for the first three weeks and fall off the wagon by the time February swings around. Same thing with my new music, Two songs right as the New Year rolled in and then fairly radio silent on YouTube since then. Granted, you can find clips of new music under my "Music" highlight on Instagram, I wouldn't necessarily call this theme a smashing success. I do have things planned for the upcoming months, but this is just a reminder for me to get my ass in gear.

So that's my check in. Hopefully this inspires someone to revisit the goals they made in January, and figure out a good way to get there. Good luck you guys!

From me, with love, to you, 
​-Victoria 

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