I know I’m technically a little late to this party given that it’s now the 11th but I’ll admit that I’ve been suffering from a very real case of writer’s block. You guys, it’s been a killer… I’m not even sure that it’s over but I’m pushing on with this post anyway. I have about 10 unfinished draft posts saved, all of them abandoned in frustration because the words, they just didn’t sound like me and I hate putting things out there that I don’t connect with on some level – if that makes any sense at all?! Anyway, I decided to pull out an old faithful type of post and share my June goals, this is a post that I can usually write regardless of current level of skill and talent.

I feel like I’m heading into a period of much-needed growth… I always know when this is about to happen because shit gets real uncomfortable for a while, I start to notice things about myself that I might not like so much and need to change, like how I react to certain people or situations, man I hate this word and how overused it has become but I start to recognise my own ‘triggers’. I start to question where I’m going, what I want to do and how I’m going to do it… You know, all of that good, existential stuff.

Anyone else get this every now and again?

Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now and it’s forcing me to take a good look at where I’m at and what I might need to do to close the gap between ‘here’ and where I actually want to be. So, a few things that I’m consistently working on this month, for various reasons.

JUNE GOALS

01. Getting out of my head and just doing. I could procrastinate for England, seriously, I’m a gold medal level procrastinator. Add in a hefty dose of overthinking and right there folks, you have a tried and tested recipe for failure. So, whenever I catch myself overthinking something to the point of paralysis, I’m going to force myself to just start. Even if it doesn’t quite work out I know that if I can cultivate this habit of just doing, I’ll be a hell of a lot better off than I am now.

02. Movement. I have a few fitness / aesthetic goals right now that I really need to make a move on for various work-related reasons. Now, I’m not super worried because I know that I can knuckle down when I need to and I know that I’m obsessive enough to get the job done. However, I’m under no illusion that that’s a healthy or sustainable way to achieve things. It also means I spend my days going from zero (sitting at my laptop) to 5000% killing myself. If I keep doing that, somethings going to break i.e. me. So, whilst I’m keeping the brutal workouts – I kinda love them, I’m also aiming to start my day with some gentler movement. Whether that’s a walk, a run, some stretching – whatever it is, the focus is simply moving and increasing blood flow in a nourishing and non-stressful way. The thing that’s helping me get out of the door before I change my mind / make coffee / open my laptop is treating it as fasted ‘work’, which I know that however gentle it ends up being, will give me a little helping hand with my aesthetic goals whilst still being ‘good’ for me both mentally and physically.

03. Being curious. Being curious in my interactions with people, being curious about opportunities. Basically trying to halt any preconceived notions or immediate knee-jerk reactions to things, ideas or people. I’m definitely a non-judgemental person – you do you, boo! But, I’ve also seen and done a lot in my lifetime (I always joke that I’ve lived 9 lives but it really does feel that way sometimes) and it has the capacity to make me slightly jaded. I’m also super impatient with everything so I tend to make up my mind about things in a nanosecond and then it’s quite hard to get me to backtrack. Even though I stand by my gut, (it’s rarely, if ever, wrong) it’s still not a great habit and it’s something that’s definitely got worse in the past few years, so to combat that I’m trying to be more curious and in turn slower to react. (In my case, that would be a very good thing! Ha!)

04. Have a plan. A life plan would be great but failing that, even just a plan for the day ahead would work wonders, preferably created the night before so that when I wake up I know exactly what I’m doing. It’s so easy as a freelancer to let the day slip away without really doing anything of great use, even when you’ve felt ‘busy’ all day long. On a personal level, I don’t exist very well without a plan, without something to focus all my energy on, I get aimless real quick. All or nothing to the core. I know how lucky I am at this point in my life though, to have this extra time to create my own reality, I don’t want to waste it as who knows what’s around the corner.

05. Create less waste. The lovely gals at REN skincare challenged me to go plastic free for 24 hours last week and let me tell you, it was a challenge. It really opened my eyes to just how much waste I personally create, with a real focus on single-use plastic. It’s actually something that Dan and I have been waking up to for a while now so the challenge came at just the right time to further compound the drive to make a change. Watch this space.

As I scan through what I’ve written I realise that these goals are actually life goals and not just June goals but we have to start somewhere right? My aim is to achieve them for a month, then two months, then a year, then before I know it, they’ll all be hardcore habits.

Is anyone else feeling ready to level up? Or have you gone through some mega growing pains recently?