Everything good, everything magical, happens between the months of June and August. —Jenny Han
And just like that, autumn is officially here! I cannot believe how fast summer’s came and gone this year!
This summer has gone by so fast that despite my arch nemesis: mosquitoes, I’m going to miss it so much! You know what else I miss? My childhood where my summers felt like a year-long vacation filled with fun and no worries.
Considering it’s the first day of fall, I thought I’d close out summer by sharing a life update along with some lessons I’ve learned these past several months.
For today’s article, let’s catch up with each other!
AS OF LATE, I’VE BEEN…
WATCHING
I’ve been a long time fan of Hoarders so to find it all in one place where I can start from season one has been great. This show absolutely fascinates and saddens me at the same time. And let’s just say, it makes me want to purge my stuff at least once a quarter if not once a month!
I love home interiors and decor content so I’m such a happy camper to have recently found all seasons of Love It or List It. It’s so funny because I’m getting really good at guessing costs of renovations, lol!). Another home-related show I love is Farmhouse Fixer. It’s a fairly new show and I love the concept of it so much! Long story short, NKOTB singer, Jon Knight, fixes up old farm houses to bring them up to date while honoring the history. The end results are insanely beautiful!
With the chaos going on in the world, POPlitics on YouTube is my favorite way to keep up with the news/pop culture. The team over there really makes it fun so I tune in every week!
And of course, I balance my binging with usual reruns of I Love Lucy, Frasier, Avatar, The Simpsons, and documentaries.
READING
I just finished reading to Jamie Kern Lima’s new book, Believe It, Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel, and God, Where Are You?! by John Bevere. I highly recommend reading Winning the War in Your Mind and God, Where Are You?! at the same time as they go hand-in-hand so well!
Currently, I’m reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn with my friends Kimmy and Rachel and our discussions have been so amazing! I also just started reading Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel, and B.O.S.S. Moves by Myron Gordon.
Next on my reading list is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel as I’ve put that off for awhile now.
PLAYING
Does going to the gym count as playing? If so, I’ve been playing a ton, ha!
In terms of games and sports, I haven’t made time to really play anything lately. However, I did play pickleball for the first time this past summer and it was so fun! I’m hopeful I can pick it up again along with tennis this fall season, but we’ll see.
EATING/DRINKING
Food-wise, I’m not eating super healthy, but not super terrible either. I will say that I need to clean up my food choices this fall if I’m going to hit my health goals faster.
I’ve also been drinking a lot of sparkling water, and taking my liquid collagen and vitamins.
WEARING
Since I work from home, I’ve been living in tees and pajama shorts/pants. On weekends, I live in my favorite Spanx shorts and of course, APLs.
BUYING
This past summer, I got a Spanx skort for workouts, a GHD hair straightener (because my Rusk one is about to die any day now), some classic jewelry, a La Mer skincare kit, and restocked on some beauty favorites such as Elemis Cleansing Balm, and SuperGoop sunscreen. I also got some new liquid lipstick from Elevate Beauty since I’ve been scraping the bottom of my current tube, ha!
After my mid-summer purchases, I decided to go on a small spending freeze until Thanksgiving and I must say, it feels really good! However, I did make a few exceptions recently. I caved and got a Stanley tumbler. And of course, got a few fall candles.
LISTENING
I have so much to say about this topic right now! I’ve been listening to worship music (my favorite right now is Anthem Lights) and Christian influencers such as Amanda Ensing and Kevin (sorry, I don’t have his last name). They talk about current world news and how everything that’s happening is a spiritual battle we’re experiencing.
Both of them have opened my eyes in various ways regarding national and international events. And while it’s certainly intense at times, their encouragement to their followers through scripture have led people like me to not only read God’s word, but to study His word to be at peace.
I’m also listening to tons of audio books and podcasts, specifically The Spillover. I cannot recommend this podcast enough, you guys! They talk about a wide variety of topics on the show and it’s so interesting!
And dare I say the guests they host on the show are also one-of-a-kind. To me, the most eye-opening episodes have been Evan Todd (Columbine survivor), Dr. Leah Gordon (natural fertility doctor), Jenn Nizza (former psychic), and the latest, Joshua Broome (former porn star).
PLANNING
I try not to plan much these days and live my life trusting God will open doors He wants to open for me and close doors He wants closed. As since we’re on this topic, I’m planning on figuring out what to grow next as my tomatoes are finally ripening (yay!).
LOOKING FOR
These days? Continued peace and more financial and business guidance in my personal life is all I could ever ask for and need.
LOOKING FORWARD TO
I’m really looking forward to cooler weather so I can take my daily walks again. I’m also excited to deeply purge my closet and I have the Hoarders show to thank for that, ha!
LOVING
My APL slides have been saving me this last year, so much so that I bought another pair when they had a sale. I’m also loving being active again. It feels so SO good!
HATING
If there’s one thing I can narrow down that I hate currently is how divided our nation (and the world) is right now. It blows my mind the increasing amount of hatred there is and lack of emotional intelligence. I rarely see a collective effort to have real conversations anymore.
I continue to see lack compassion and empathy and more people carrying stress and trauma and it saddens me. The increasing inability to express one’s emotions due to fear of being rejected/cancelled is incredibly heartbreaking.
Another thing I’m sad about is the eroding protection of children’s innocence. What I mean by that is letting children be children. Instead of forcing them to be prodigies and doing adult things like turning them into extremely young entrepreneurs, let them play. Let them discover the world, their interests and what they want to do at their own pace.
SLACKING ON
For me, I’m slacking on being consistent in general, but am improving every week now.
STRUGGLING WITH
Hands down, I’m struggling with sleep big time. What I’m truly struggling with is the pressure to be super productive especially with any free time I have on my hands. I try not to feel guilty and learn to rest, but do any of you feel this way too?
IMPROVING
My water intake is still improving, yay! Spending time with God and reflecting on my blessings has drastically improved as well and it makes me SO happy.
THINKING ABOUT…SUMMER 2022 LESSONS
This past summer, I’ve learned that no matter how crazy this world gets, living in constant worry, stress, and fear is no way to live.
I’ve also learned that to get back to doing the things we were never afraid of doing, but are now, is just exercising those muscles to get back to where we once were.
Another lesson I’ve learned is that when I intentionally step outside of my comfort zone, it doesn’t matter if the action is big or small. Progress is progress!
And that’s the latest update with me! Let’s catch up with each other!
