Hello, friends! As it’s the last day of the month and I’m feeling introspective, I thought I’d give you some thoughts on life behind the screen. I’ve found it’s helpful for me to reflect at the end of each month on what’s been working, what isn’t, all the good things that happened during the month, and some of the things I’ve discovered and loved. Enjoy!
What worked this month
- I tried out a mood tracker and this mental health tracker that I found in my bullet journal this month, and I was surprised at how well they worked. The mental health tracker, in particular, has helped me realize that I’m doing better than I sometimes think that I am… When I remember to use them 😹
- Writing out how my day went and what happened has also been going well
- Filming all the reels whenever I think of it, especially in the morning before leaving for work, makes me feel less overwhelmed when I get home
What hasn’t been working
- One thing that didn’t work out so well was trying to pin all my hopes and dreams on the week-long paid vacation known as Fall Break (perks of working in a school 😸), only to realize that there was no way that I could possibly do all the things that I wanted to in that amount of time
- I found that I became hyper-fixated on a single project and didn’t want to do anything else until I finished it, which is good in some cases, but this month I ended up spending lots of time on something that could’ve been saved for later and procrastinating some other things I wanted to finish
What was hard
- I realized this month that working full-time, then getting a whole week off work, and then having to go back to working full-time, makes me feel stressed during my time off and even more so after as I began to dread returning to work, even though I absolutely LOVE my job
- It’s hard for me to choose to shut down whatever thing I’m doing at an earlier time so that I can get good rest, knowing that I won’t have a ton of time the next day to continue it
- It’s hard when I wake up and the short amount of time I have to get ready for the day (from 6-7:15 or so) slips through my fingers RIDICULOUSLY fast
Things I’d like to grow in:
- Responding positively, especially when I feel like my energy is low
- Keeping my spaces clearer
- Getting ready for my day the night before by making lunch and setting out clothes
Things I made:
- Encanto stickers! I used them in the reflection pages I did in my bullet journal (above)
- I made a butterfly painting inspired by the aesthetic of Encanto with gold metallic oil paint, and I LOVE it 🦋
- I made a whole rainbow of butterfly stickers that I’m super proud of, which are available for FREE in my ko-fi shop : )
- I wrote most of a devotional that I hope to release soon! She’s not done yet, but very excited
- I designed a custom washi?! May or may not be available soonish, we’ll see 😸
Things I loved this month:
- Turning Red on Disney+ (read all about it here!)
- recommending my favorite books from childhood to the kids I work with at school
- Filled-up prayer journal pages
- mini faux polaroid stickers in every possible way
- Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and friends – just finished Queen of Shadows from the Throne of Glass series and yes, it’s worth the hype
Things I learned:
- It’s okay to not finish everything as soon as I think of it – I need to prioritize the things I want to get done soon/now, and let the “laters” and “somedays” wait until another day
What GOD did this month:
- I love this category! This month, I saw God send me a whole friend on Instagram who showed actual interest in my devotional journal!! It made my day (week, month, etc.) to find out that I’ve reached at least ONE person who might be able to benefit from the thing I made
- I finally got to see and talk with my friend from college that I hadn’t seen in MONTHS, and it was truly a God thing because I was having a difficult moment and she STAYED and didn’t drive the hour and a half back home
- Our teenage, thinks-he’s-ferocious-but-is-actually-a-soft-boi cat wandered off on a cold night this past week, disappeared for over a week, and then miraculously reappeared last Tuesday. We were SO happy to have him home!
Conclusion
I hope you were encouraged by this little glimpse into my life behind the screen this month. These prompts helped me a lot with reflecting on the previous month and looking forward to the next. How do you reflect?
Happy journaling!