Monthly Reflection & May 2022 Goals

Hello everyone!

I’m not sure why but April felt soo long for some reason. It just seemed like such a long and gloomy month with all the rainy days.

We did have some sunshine here and there and in hindsight, all those rainy days made those sunny days wayyy better!

If you’re new here, I created this blog series to document my journey as I grow and navigate through life in hopes to inspire you to do the same and grow with me. Each month, I’ll do a reflection of the last month, set 3 goals for the month ahead and ask 1 insightful question to think about.

So let’s get right into it!

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Monthly Reflection & May 2022 Goals

April Reflection

This month was a real goal getter for me as I was able to complete everything I set out to do which felt awesome! I’ve also become more consistent with my gym routine and totally feel the difference in my energy levels, SO missed that!

As our COVID restrictions have dropped completely here in Vancouver, tons of my friends and family have been planning (or going) on vacation from Hawaii to Vietnam to Miami all the way to Costa Rica.

It’s really really making me itch to go somewhere!

However, I’m still a little uneasy as COVID is still a thing and I’m not entirely comfortable just yet. Last thing I want is an outbreak and I’m stuck in a foreign country.

But I guess if I’m on the beach, then it wouldn’t be so bad lol!

I also got around to some planting and just loved the entire process of it. From walking through the nurseries and touching the flowers to planting them in the ground and smelling the aroma of the Earth; that’s what I call holistic medicine.

My plant of this year is Dahlia, what’s yours?

Last month my goals were:

1) Go to the gym 2 times a week

Done!! Setting a small and achievable goal of 2 times a week made me feel like it was doable and didn’t put a lot of pressure on trying to force this habit back into my lifestyle.

I knew in my mind this was achievable and that made it so much easier for me to accomplish it.

When I’ve set astronomical gym goals before (like 5 days a week) it wasn’t all that enjoyable but this one was right for me at this point in my gym goals.

I did however, end up going more than 2 times some weeks just because I’ve missed that feeling so much which made me feel even more awesome for surpassing my goals!

2) Read 2 books by April 30

Done! I really missed reading actually. Not so much the reading itself (well, I mean I do enjoy the material most of the time) but again, it was the dedication of time for myself that I craved. Last month I read:

First off, Michael Pollan is such a good writer, SO articulate and has such a natural ability to put words together. I highly recommend his other books (This Is Your Mind on Plants and Botany of Desire – two of my favourites from him).

Anyway, In Defense of Food was good but a bit too heavy on research articles for me personally.

There is a documentary on Netflix which I like way better. Also because I’m more of a visual learner and when there’s that much information to convey, I can grasp the material way better by watching.

Eat That Frog! was a great short read packed with actionable steps. It’s a classic that I think anyone interested in personal development should read at least once.

I found this book at the bargain bookstore for only $4.00! I love books like these that are straight to the point, no fluff!

3) Do 10 self reflection journal questions

Done and I absolutely loved this exercise! It’s amazing the places you go when you sit with yourself in deep thought and really work on getting to know who you are.

Most people don’t spend enough time by themselves and I used to be like that too.

Only years after I selfishly gave my time to people who did not necessarily appreciate it and took it for granted that I learned to take back that time for me and I never regretted that decision one bit.

Last month I had these self reflection journal questions planned out:

What rituals do I have that aren’t serving me?
Where do I see myself in 5 years?
How are my relationships and how can I improve them?
Where am I in regards to my long-term goals?
What are my natural gifts?
In what situations do I feel triggered?
How am I at controlling my emotions?
What is one decision I made that changed my life?
How are the conversations I have with myself?
Where is my happy place?

I’d like to do this again in the near future. Do you like to journal with self reflection prompts? All suggestions are welcome!

May 2022 Goals

1) Go to the gym 3 times a week

I know I set this goal pretty much every month but I still don’t feel like it’s hardwired into my lifestyle yet so I’m going to keep setting these gym goals until it’s like brushing my teeth, like it’s something that I WILL NEVER miss.

2) Read 2 books by May 31

Still playing catch up with my reading goals for this year lol. I should be reading 3 books this month but I think 2 is doable! This month I plan to read:

3) Recreate and prioritize my to-do lists

This was something I learned from reading Eat That Frog! I have so many lists of things that I need to do for certain areas of my life that they’re all kind of jumbled and mixed up and sometimes I just get confused and forget about things.

In his book, Brian Tracy talks about creating a Master To-Do List, which is literally everything you need to do and every time a new task comes up, just add that to your master list.

From this master list, you then create a monthly, weekly and daily list by prioritizing what you need to do and moving the task into the appropriate deadline.

This will help you get organized and break things down into achievable deadlines. So I’m going to give this a shot and hopefully this tip will keep my head from exploding from the never ending things to do in my life!!