The Half Way Through Review 2017

At the beginning of January I made my list of resolutions, as I always do, but this year they seemed to go out of my mind fairly quickly, which wasn't really the intention. This morning I watched a video that lovely Sanne posted, reviewing her progress with 2017 resolutions so I figured it was about time I did the same. Hold myself accountable and all that. My blog has, regrettably, taken a bit of a backseat recently, so I thought this might be a good idea to ease myself back in.

I wrote a Half Way Through Review around this time last year and it was both a helpful reminder and an effort to refocus. I'll be honest, prior to putting this post together I had forgotten what most of my 2017 goals were. Hmm.

However, I do think it's important to remember that they are just goals, and our goals and priorities change. I was in a fairly different situation at the beginning of the year to where I am now, so hold yourself accountable, yes, but don't punish yourself for changing your priorities. Anyway, the year is fast disappearing and soon it will be New Year again(!), but I've still got five months left to try and tick a few things off.

• Have a better sleeping pattern. I guess I have got myself into a better pattern, or at least a better one than I was in at the beginning of the year, but this is largely down to work than choice. My working day now starts at 8am, so ever since February I've managed a fairly consistent routine of rising by 6.30. I'm exhausted by 11pm so I'm not staying awake half the night anymore, but I don't know that my routine is completely healthy. I heard a passerby say to his friend the other day that he hasn't had a decent night's sleep for four years, and boy I hear ya. I don't remember a time when I woke up feelings truly rested, but that's a matter for another day. I've actually come to almost enjoy my early mornings - it's like a secret, smug club when you're out and about at 7.30, but I can't really take the credit for it.

• Read 30 books. I am ashamed of how few books I've read this year (...more than 5, less than 10). I was so optimistic in January. I'm putting it down to the fact that I was home all the time last summer but I know that's a poor excuse. I have been putting more time into reading in the last few weeks though, and at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying Laura Barnett's Greatest Hits, but right now my target of 30 is looking very very unlikely.

• Make better use of my gym membership. This one is affirmative! Since March I've been going to two classes nearly every week and I'm trying to fit more swimming in. Nothing to report on the ~actual~ gym though. Yet.

• Be more charitable. As I said in January, money is a sensitive topic, but I think I'm doing more. I'm not going to into into depth in the interest of not sounding righteous, but I'm working on it. For the rest of the year I want to remember that it's actions that speak the loudest.

• Put more effort into writing. This is a tricky one. In a sense I am because I have the luxury of having writing be a huge part of my job now (which is amazing!) but my creative writing and hobby writing has definitely been neglected a bit. As I said before, this post is an attempt to get myself back into blogging, and I do want to do more. I want to turn my journal scribbles and iPhone notes into something more long form.

• Stop being late and stop being in a rush. UMMM, I'd like to say yes I have stopped but that would be a great big fib. I mentioned earlier that I start work at 8am now, but realistically it's more like ten past most days. Unlike my last workplace, my current job has a fairly relaxed attitude to start times, which I'm not sure is completely helpful. I always make up the time at the end of the day but I do need to get better at showing up on the dot, for my own peace of mind.

• Cook more widely. I definitely eat more widely these days and I'm slightly more experimental in what I cook but I'd still like to put more time into recipe books.

• Make a little progress every day. The vaguest of the vague. This was made in relation to a few more ~personal~ goals and I'm happy to report that I think progress is being made, little by little.

So there we are. I'm sure that wasn't interesting to anyone but me, but it's useful to see it all written down. Some of these things aren't really priorities anymore, as I said, but I'll try to stick at them and we'll review again at the end of the year. Take stock of what's gone on. Maybe by then I will, at last, start being more punctual. 

Stranger things have happened.