Mid-Year Checkin – TPW353

We're halfway through 2021 already! Mid-year is a good time to pause and reflect. Are you happy with how the year has gone so far?   Mid-year checkin - taking inventory of our year so far Way back in episode 95 and again in episode 303 we talked about a process for doing a midyear review; I encourage you to check those out. In the meantime, I wanted to have a quick chat about how the year has gone so far, some things I’ve enjoyed that you might like too, and some thoughts I’m pondering as we move into the second half of this year. When I'm thinking about how my year is going, I like to start from a positive perspective (which doesn’t come naturally for me--I more easily see where things fall short). I purposely try to cultivate this mindset because it makes for a happier life, at least for me. So to start a mid-year checkin, identify and celebrate the wins! And by celebrate, I mean write them down and be happy about it. Not only your accomplishments, but the good things that have happened in your world. So for instance, as I'm publishing this episode, our younger daughter and her husband welcomed their first child just a few days ago--our 9th grandchild. In addition, during the first half of this year we finally finished two major projects here at the house, and I've lost a fair amount of weight. These are all things I want to take note of, be grateful for, and celebrate! What about you? What good things have happened in your life during the first half of this year? The next step is to revisit and re-evaluate your goals. Did you set any goals for this year? How are you progressing toward accomplishing them? Do you want to rethink any of them? If you’re disappointed with your progress, give some thought to how and why you got off track.  For myself, I’ve made progress on a couple of my goals for this year--losing weight, for example, and some decluttering and organizing for the house. However, I have fallen off the wagon in the last week or two on my diet and exercise plan. Looking at why, I realize when something happens to throw off my daily routine (such as houseguests or losing a couple of nights’ sleep while at the hospital with my daughter), I find it harder to stick with my healthier habits. So I need to come up with a plan to help me stick with my healthy habits when my normal routine gets interrupted.  In addition, I still haven’t launched the YouTube channel. I'm pondering the reasons why and coming up with a plan to address it. (Next week I will go into more depth on how to re-set/reboot when things have gotten off track.) Now let's look at what’s coming in the second half of the year? What do you need to do to be ready? In my family, our youngest son is leaving in a few days to move to another state where his new post-graduation job is located. It’s a big milestone for him, but also for us. He’s been gone before, but just away at school. This is his first post-graduation job, his first apartment, and this is permanent.  Another big event coming up is that I will be hosting the first-ever TPW planning retreat here at my home. Five women will be joining me here for a long weekend in October to retreat, relax, and consider plans for the coming year.  As for travel plans, we're hoping to visit our son in DC and our other son and his family in Wisconsin. I'll be spending some time thinking about what I can do now to prepare for each of these important upcoming events. On a completely unrelated note . . . a couple of things I’ve liked recently * Madame Chic books--written by