The Summer of Trying New Things

I think by now it's very clear that I love a good to do list. I make work to do lists each week, weekend to do lists, I've got my 101 in 1,001 list, plus every month we do small goals. So yeah, I love a good list. Recently I've been working with a life coach (Hi Molly!!! Check her out here!) and we have been diving into a lot of stuff that kind of overlaps with the work I do in therapy, but a little more focused on actions. I started thinking of ways I could take some meaningful action to bring new things into my life. I feel like there is a lot of stuff I want to try, especially related to self care, but I feel overwhelmed on where to start and how to keep going.

I've felt like the past year has been incredible for my mental health & growth. Therapy is the hands down best thing I've ever done for my self care. I've been able to work through a lot of childhood traumas & also understand how those experiences shaped the way I show up in my life. My anxiety and depression are much better (not gone, but definitely more manageable) & I feel like I show up in my relationships, work, & friendships in ways I never would have done in the past. The only thing I feel like was missing was actionable items from these internal changes. This is where Molly comes in! She's been the second best thing I've done for my self care. I cried so much on our first call together, but she creates such a safe space of caring and acceptance. She genuinely cares about me & helping me turn my goals into small, actionable steps.

The Summer of Trying New Things was born out of this need to try forming new habits based on the growth I've experienced from therapy. It goes from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend (and possibly longer if I end up liking it). I made a list of about 30 things that I have always wanted to try and the plan is to pick one thing (via random number generator) each week on Sunday to try for one week. Usually the thing that trips me up when trying to form new habits is feeling like if I slip up, I've failed completely so I quit. To me, one week feels like a long enough time to see if I actually like something, but also short enough that I don't think I'll have a problem sticking with it through the entire week. At the end of each week, I'll decide if this is something I want to keep doing. I'm hoping to keep track of my progress on Instagram stories and here on the blog!

So what's on my list? 

1. Meditation 
2. Yoga
3. Take Jake on a walk every morning before work 
4. Wake up at 6am 
5. Bedtime at 10pm
6. Listen to DRE twice a day 
7. Gratitude journal 
8. Lemon water before coffee
9. Essential Oils 
10. Walk/run every day for 30 minutes 
11. Brain dump journaling 
12. Self reflection journaling 
13. Make plans with friends (once a week for a month?) 
14. Spend zero dollars for one week 
15. Read for one hour 
16. No screen time 
17. No social media apps 
18. Work on something creative every night
19. Create a morning routine 
20. Create a bedtime routine 
21. Plan meals for the week 
22. Do whatever the girls want to do together each night 
23. Tarot card pulls every morning (to learn more about the cards & reflect) 
24. Eat breakfast 
25. Drink 90oz water every day 
26. No dairy for one week 
27. No alcohol (this one might not be good for only a week challenge?) 
28. Development podcasts only on my commute 
29. Audiobooks instead of podcasts for one week 

Molly was incredibly helpful in listening to my list & helping me figure out if there was anything I wanted to prioritize. We decided a good way to kick this off would be to start with gratitude journaling. I downloaded the 5 Minute Journal app at Molly's suggestion and I really love it so far! Obviously, you can also do this with good old pen & paper, but I'm enjoying my experience with the app. We also decided to try the morning routine at the end of July/beginning of August, since a lot of the things on my list could fit well into a morning routine once I know if I like them or not. I seriously love my experience with Molly and coaching so far. It's been the perfect tie in with my therapy practice and a good way to show up for myself. I'm also really excited to get started on my Summer of Trying New Things! I feel really excited and motivated in a way I haven't in a long time.

I'll be posting updates here monthly and on Instagram weekly. I'd love for anyone to join in with their own lists (or even borrow mine!). I'm excited to see what habits I've formed by the end of summer.