Firstly, I need to profusely apologize for last week, I don’t even know what happened. I can see on my laptop that I had all the photos edited and loaded for the “Week in Outfits” post and that I had started pulling articles for the “Mid-Week Procrastination”, and they just didn’t happen. It was an unexpectedly eventful week, but I still feel like I had time to get at least those blog posts done. Alas, I did not, but we move on.
I was inspired by this YouTube video by Michelle Reed to do this check-in post. I’ll have another check-in post this week as well, but it will be slightly different. If you don’t know I make New Year’s goals/resolutions that are very concrete and practical, but I also do a big journaling session on my birthday where I reflect on the year and make plans for the next year, and my birthday is this week, so I will have this mid-year check in based on my 2022 New Year’s goals and another post later this week based on my birthday journaling. I don’t post the whole journaling I do, some things just aren’t meant for the internet.
If you are interested in reading my original 2022 posts, I did one on concrete goals and then one on vibes.
I started that post with travel goals, so that’s where I will begin here as well. My travel goals have changed somewhat and I’m actually very okay with it:
- Going to Ireland, with everything going on with travel at the moment, another wave, it just doesn’t seem feasible to get to Ireland this year. My grandparents are also currently booked to come in August/September, so I will get to see them, which was my real goal for going to Ireland.
- Quarterly city weekends. I think I did pretty decent with this. In Q1 (January – March), I went to Guelph and Toronto (which is what made me realize I need quarterly city weekends), and in Q2 (April – June) I actually did two, I went to Winnipeg for a shopping/sanity weekend and then I went to Minneapolis for a concert and to see some friends. I am starting to wonder if I need one in Q3 (July – September), because it is just so nice here in the summer and I’m having a lot of fun so far this summer. And, I’m wondering if I should be really saving to travel in the winter if I still live up here. A friend of mine and I are also tentatively planning an October trip to New York and I would really like to go to Mexico City this winter, and I will obviously want to go home for Christmas. But I’m also very tempted to go to Winnipeg for my birthday this week, I’m making this week up as I go along.
- The Calgary Stampede. I did not go to the Calgary Stampede this year, I looked up the cost of it, and I just didn’t care enough about going at this point in time to spend that much money. I could go to Europe for that amount of money and I currently would prefer to do that.
Financial Goals
The next section I wrote about were financial goals. I am both very proud and disappointed with my current financial position. I have come a really long way from where I was at the beginning of 2022, my credit card was maxed out, I had no savings, I used all of my overdraft protection every month and never had anything leftover. And I worked myself to exhaustion to be able to do this, I was responding to outbreaks in northern communities, working 14 to 16 hour days, and then went straight to pet sitting for nearly 7 weeks straight. In total, I spent one night a week at home for nearly 11 weeks and it nearly broke me. But it also saved me. I was able to buy some new clothes that were desperately needed (especially since we are back in the office), I was able to do my two city weekends, I got my credit card very nearly paid off (it has crept back up a bit, but I’m better prepared to tackle it now), and I have money spread out between three different savings accounts, not a ton, not enough. But it is incredible progress in 6 months and I’m really proud of myself.
The reason I am also a bit annoyed with myself is after getting things I did really need I also got more than what I need. Which is fine overall, I work really hard and I deserve to spend some of my money on things I want, but I am also trying to break the habit of overconsumption and mistaking needs for wants.
I have accomplished half of one of my bullet points, I got CAA (AAA for Americans, essentially an extra auto insurance that will pay for you to get towed, have your battery boosted, etc. if you break down on the side of the road). I have not yet got renter’s insurance and this was a good reminder that I want to do that.
The other item that I am proud of that I hadn’t identified back in January is that I have really eliminated my subscriptions. Which it does make sense because over the winter TV and such was my only form of entertainment because I’m not really a winter person. But I am only capable of watching one streaming channel at a time, so I don’t need to have multiple. So a few months ago I cancelled Crave+HBO, AppleTV+ and Netflix and kept Disney+ (I pay for this annually) and PrimeTV. And then last month I cancelled my Amazon Prime and my StackTV extension and resubscribed to Netflix (for Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Derry Girls, Anatomy of a Scandal). I am hoping that I can keep Prime cancelled because the bigger issue with Prime is the ease of ordering on Amazon that comes with it, but I would really like to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Food/exercise
This was the least concrete area of my whole Goals post, but it was like that for a reason, and that reason is that I refuse to go back to an unhealthy mental state around food and body image. Not that my body image is in a particularly good place ever, but I am currently binge-eating way less and I was at the beach every day this past weekend, which would have never happened before, so I feel decent about this right now.
I also want to do a bit of a mention that I think I have lost a bit of weight lately. I couldn’t figure out what to wear on Friday, or less that than, I knew what I wanted to wear, but I haven’t been able to find a new pair of white trousers that I like/fit this year. But I knew what I wanted to wear so I decided I’d give them a shot. And they fit. They were a bit tighter than I would have liked, but they fit and at the beginning of the summer they did not zip. I also wore my denim shorts to the beach today and again, still tighter than I would have liked, but they did fit. I also have not been trying to diet or cut foods out at all at the moment, so I’m chalking this up to generally being happier and more active as the summer has happened and we have gone back into the office and I have chosen to walk to work.
Also, Hannah Berner said something on the Giggly Squad podcast a few weeks ago, I don’t remember which one I’m sorry, but it was essentially “my exercise moving forward is going to be playing sports and walking” and I really liked that, and I’ve kind of taken it to heart. It was a throwaway comment, but I really absorbed it.
Apartment
I have accomplished only one of these things. I have gotten matching curtains for my living room (thank God). It looks so much better in here.
Anything else for my apartment I have really been holding off on. I applied for this job in Paris and had positive feedback on it, and so I didn’t want to buy anymore stuff in case I had to sell everything and move to Paris, but it will be 7 weeks this Tuesday since my interview so I don’t think I will be getting the job.
I also have an edit/addition. I really need a new vacuum cleaner. Mine is very much on it’s last legs and it’s so ancient that Dyson doesn’t even repair them anymore. So, it is time.
Fun/weird
So for this one, I set a goal of messaging every match I make on dating apps, and I only re-joined dating apps this past week in 2022. I still absolutely detest them, and I swipe left on basically everyone so I don’t really have any matches yet lol (also is anyone else infuriated that you can see the number of the people who have swiped right on you, but you have to pay to see who’s on that list!)
In terms of needlepoint finishing, I have learned how to finish a bag patch and it turned out spectacularly in my opinion. I have not touched bookmarks, ornaments, or headbands (I also haven’t even stitched my headband canvas nor yet own a bookmark canvas). Maybe I could tackle ornaments this week since I am taking the week off with no real plans.
Vibes for 2022
So this post, I think I still feel more connected to this than the goals for 2022. In 2022 I wanted to have fun, be fluffier, have less substance. And I think Summer 2022 is feeling like that, winter and spring 2022 did not, all I did was work and be depressed. But so far in summer I have gone to the beach a half dozen times, I have hung out with friends, I have started taking tennis lessons, I am tan (maybe a bit too tan), and just in general feeling really happy. There hasn’t been any museum visiting, but there has been more dancing that January me expected.
So that’s everything I have related to 2022 goals for now. I do have to say that it does feel like things are better overall in 2022. I have made a solid group of friends and have regular social outings, I have really improved my financial situation, I am better prepared for car emergencies than I was last year. I am feeling a lot more stable than I was in January. Obviously not everything is perfect, but it feels better and I am good with better.
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 