june's confessional is a halfway point
another month, another confessional
being officially halfway through 2024, let’s break it down:
i have this bingo card that of things i want to do for this year. some things are yearlong ventures, some things are single-event things. i’ve made more progress in some areas over others. below we can find a quick overview of some highlights.
some things i have accomplished/started:
get a 4.0 one semester — shoutout to spring semester (i barely got the bare minimum to keep my A in my comparative politics class)
go to 3 concerts — i’ve been to 1 technically thus far and it was a house party concert type thing for a local artist. great vibe, so for that reason i’m counting it.
travel to 3 new places — i’ve been to texas now, so call me a cowboy or beyonce. or both.
start a new hobby — i’ve been getting into chess again. it’s not technically a new hobby, but i’ve been taking it very seriously in the past month.
listen to 2 new albums a month — this is going pretty well except for the fact that i have not been keeping track of which albums for each month since march.
some of the bingo card items that have been abandoned or not started or completed yet include:
publish 8 articles — we see how that one is going. i’m planning on making the comeback of the year though, don’t worry.
do yoga twice a month — this one was over by march to be honest. i don’t think i like it enough to try and find a way to check it off either,
journal twice a week — i was doing so well until like march. then i didn’t pick up my journal until finals week when i was going through it, and then it’s been in a box packed away since then. i wonder where it is.
watch 12 new shows or movies — i literally have been rewatching new girl and the boondocks for the past two months.
become a barista — this was like a sidequest bit that does not look like it will happen. i have two different jobs that are bits so honestly i think we’re good.
go to a lakehouse — again, this feels unrealistic for me right now… but if you know anyone, hit me up.
read 20 books — i’ve read like 5. 2 were for class. i’ve started like 3 others that i haven’t locked in and finished. i don’t know why i am incapable of sitting down and reading.
there’s been a common theme where march has been my slump. kinda fell off the wagon and i havent been as intentional about keeping track of progress. the daunting part of getting halfway to the new year is feeling like its too late to start something, or self-loathing because you couldn’t last six months into your goals.
so, to limit the self-loathing, we are doing two very cool things called “6 months is a lot of time to start/continue what you wanted to do”. parts of my bingo card arent a lost cause just because i haven’t completed them in the first 6 months. sometimes it feels like there’s so much pressure to complete things first/the fastest possible. but what’s the point of having goals for the year if you finish them in the first six months? speedrunning goals for the sake of finishing has the same level of intentionality as not tracking progress. doing things with the intention of progress rather than to just finish something is much more meaningful in my opinion.
the second cool thing we can do is called “you made the goal, you can change it to fit your needs now”. some of the goal i made were with my december 2023 mindset and they’re not what fits my life now. maybe tweaking the goals to better accommodate what i can do will at least motivate me to make progress on my goals. i don’t think it’s a scapegoat if the purpose of changing the goal is to give yourself a tangible reach. it might not be the og plan, but it’s still a plan you made to challenge yourself.
for example, my journaling goal will not be salvaged. that mark will not be checked off. HOWEVER, the point of the bingo card is a guideline. completely throwing away the goal is stupid, especially when i can still get in the habit of journaling every day. i can still continue the resolution even if i had a hiatus.
yoga was not for me, but i took a cycling class this past month that i liked. i might end up changing my goal to taking two cycling classes a month for the rest of the year. 6 months is a long time to find out what you like and dislike. holding myself to do something i won’t enjoy will not get me to complete it.
my bingo card is just a silly little game when you really think about it. it doesn’t have to mean anything, but i want it to. changing your goal doesn’t mean you failed; it just means you found a way you can execute something in a way that’s more enjoyable for you now.
there are six months left in 2024 to continue the good things we’re doing, and to start doing the things we want to do. so july is looking like a month of intentionality and getting back on whatever track we decide to go on.
happy 2nd half of 2024!