A Mid-Year Solstice Check In

It came to my attention on Monday that we are halfway through the year. I heard mention on a podcast that the Solstice is this week and was excited but also mildly shocked. The solstice? Now? Is that where we are at now?

One of my favorite routines is walking in nature with my best boy in the whole wide world, Cosmo.

I haven’t been paying as much attention to astrology or the wheel of the year or time lately. I usually find all of these fascinating and like to make them a part of my daily practice. But then I was working full time for a few months and went on a three week trip to Mexico and Belize that I planned very precisely (since it coincided with Mercury retrograde), so many of my normal routines fell by the wayside.

I have no problem with throwing my routine out the window. Many people like to stick to a strict morning routine or spiritual practice that they do every day without fail and I think that is fine too. It’s your life, do it the way that makes it work the best for you.

For me, I do my routines when there is space and time to delve into them and enjoy all the benefits of a morning routine. At other times, I like to be spontaneous and free, no routines on vacation or the weekend. At still other times, I buckle down and make that money because it works better for me to do a job in a sprint, rather than slog through one everyday. My morning routine and spiritual practice fill me with joy, but only if I hold them loosely. When I try to do them “perfectly” they don’t really do their job of giving me peace and structure. I just feel like I’m a failure, which is definitely not their function.

So, now I’m hearing in podcasts and newsletters that it’s Solstice time, and I’m brought back to the current moment. It’s time for a check in, here is the moment to assess what 2024 has been so far. What goals did I set at the beginning of the year? Am I going after them? Have they changed? What do I want to accomplish in the rest of the year?

Are you asking yourself these questions now too? What answers are you coming up with? Write them down!

Here I am feeling vibrant at Waterville Valley Ski Resort in New Hampshire. I made it out on 13 skis days this season! Bam.

At the onset of 2024 I picked a word of the year: Vibrant! (with an exclamation point). It took me a couple minutes to remember that this morning. I was out walking my dog, listening to this podcast about how it’s check in time, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember what my word of the year was. I remember picking one. I talked to my friend Jack about it, which helped me recall it because of the look on his face when I said Vibrant! (with an exclamation point). I’m not sure what the face meant, but I interpreted it as skepticism.

So my idea was, when I go about my daily life in 2024 I would ask myself, “Does this make me feel vibrant?” before taking action. I remember doing it for a little bit at the beginning of the year and then it just faded away. Sound like a typical New Year’s resolution? Mmm, hmm…

Vibrantly climbing a pyramid at Becan in Mexico. It was steep but exhilarating!

The good news is, when I asked myself the question today, the answer was yes. I definitely do feel vibrant out with Cosmo in the woods going for a walk. That is one of my most vibrant times. And when I ask myself that now, while typing up this blog, I can easily say the answer is yes again. Today, writing makes me feel vibrant. And my writing practice for the last 3 weeks since ending that full time job sprint, has all felt really bountiful and full of life.

I just looked up vibrant in the thesaurus and here are some words I like that are synonyms: thriving, lively, flourishing, animated, kinetic, abuzz, abounding, and alive. I very much want to feel full of life and thriving this year. There are lots of things I can do that make me feel heavy, dull, and lifeless and my goal was to choose not to engage with those activities and situations. I wanted to bring awareness to my actions through self reflection and thereby make better choices.

Looking back over the first half of this year, I feel like I’ve been crushing it on most fronts. Would I answer yes to vibrance every day this year? Nope! But most is better than none at all. And that’s the beauty of looking back over a long period of time, you don’t get bogged down in the little details of each day. I’m not going to berate myself for the choices I made that weren’t vibrant when I can see that overly, I’m acting according to my values. Once again, perfection is not the goal here.

Here I am doing some slow beach cruising in Caye Caulker in Belize.

There were a few synonyms that came up for vibrant that I’m not so down with: busy, brisk, bustling, aboil, thronging, and swarming. These also feel like they have come up frequently this year as well. I guess, you gotta take the good with the bad when it comes to picking a word of the year. Life is very lively but that can also make it feel like it’s flying by and there are so many things to do! I hate to say I’m busy, but I have a lot going on…

I’m going to stick with vibrant for the rest of the year. Sure, it can be hectic to seize life with all its overflowing and boundless activity, but I’m up for it. No time like the present to really enjoy things. One of my major goals for the rest of 2024 is to keep up this writing practice and show up on this blog every week to share with you. With a bustling life, I have plenty to write about!

How are you feeling about your word of the year? What about goals that you set at the last solstice or for the new year? Are you still working on them? Have you finished? Nice work! Or maybe it’s time to set some new goals. Maybe you want to feel vibrant too? You can hop on the vibrant train as well, plenty of room aboard :)

If you need some help planning goals and seeing if you’ve meant them, I made myself a simple 3 sheet planner for each month of the year. You can download a PDF of that planner here. Enjoy!