How is half of 2024 already here and gone? It feels like no time has passed since January, that the only semblances of knowing things have changed are my watch tan has gotten bigger and my daughter being heavier. 

But when I look back at the beginning of the year, quite literally flipping to the starting pages of my 2024 Kindred Planner, I see the words I wrote. I see the words of what I hoped for the year, of the habits I wanted to incorporate and wanted to avoid, and of the present story I was currently living.

Looking back

When I look back to January and reflect on where I am now, then I see that yes, a lot of life has been lived. And actually yes, a lot of questions and prayers have already been answered since January. Maybe even, some clarity and direction has glimmered through and there is an unveiling of a path forward. A path I still feel like is mostly unseen, but compared to January is a path as clear as a blue sky summer day.

I see now that while five minutes ago Valerie (the version of me before I flipped to January) might feel uneasy and uncertain, that she actually has great reason to feel grounded. January Valerie, gosh she had so many questions and uncertainties. June Valerie, still has lots of questions, but her questions are less vague and ambiguous. The theoretical mental funnel of swirling questions is growing narrower and the questions more direct. 

Your Turn

How about for you? 

What would current you say how the year is going and how you’re feeling about the year? 

Now pause. Flip back to January and the earlier pages of your year. Read through what you wrote there and take it in. What would you say now that you read January and where you’re at now? 

Pause and take inventory.

Maybe you’re like me and were pleasantly surprised that maybe this year has flown by, but it wasn’t without you being present or having some motion forward. 

Maybe you look back to January you and June you is not pleased with how the year is going, maybe you’re even pretty distressed by it. 

I think that’s okay too. There is room in our lives to have moments of pleasant surprise and also disappointment. It isn’t that one is necessarily better or worse than the other (although I think we would all agree that disappointment is not fun). Rather, it is what we do and how we respond when we are faced with the pleasant surprise or the disappointment that will create a ripple effect moving forward.

For our pleasantly surprised friends:

If its pleasant surprise, my challenge to you (and me) is:

1. To not let the realization be permission to coast or allow the waves of life to just carry you forward without you being an active participant in it
2. To avoid the temptation to push down on the gas pedal and hustle harder or try to do more, but to allow the realization to be an encouragement that sometimes slow doesn’t mean stopped

For our friends experiencing disappointment:

If it’s disappointment you’re feeling, my encouragement is: 

1. Feel the feelings. The most dangerous path forward from disappointment is to pretend it never existed. Giving words and space to disappointment allows what was missed or lost to have its say and gives us permission to actually find a way forward in an appropriate manner
2. Recalibrate to what you might need going forward. Maybe what was true of January is very different from June and so it’s okay to pick new rhythms or goals or ways of being for the remainder of 2024. 

No matter what your reflection back and then forward brings to light, remember, this is only a tool towards encouraging you to see a life being lived, rather than barreling towards the end of the year and only seeing what was being done (or not done). 

You and your story are worth the time and space at this midway point for celebrating the pleasant surprises and grieving the disappointments.

Something to help you this year

We’ll be sending out a more fully flushed mid-year guide for our planner users, you can sign up to get that free guide here.

If you’ve gotten this far and want a paper tool to help you keep track (without the distractions of other apps) of you and your story, then our 2024 Kindred Planners are 75% off in the shop.

Or sign up here to be the first to know when the 2025 Kindred Planner drops.

With joy & gratitude,

Val

PS: if you already have your 2024 Kindred Planner, I’m still collecting feedback to help in the design of the 2025 Kindred Planner. Leave your thoughts here and I’ll send you 20% off your next planner!