I'm still thinking about question five. Let me get back to you once I have chewed on it some more, but I absolutely love the five questions and plan to sit with them the next two days. Gosh, how wonderful! I absolutely loved the reflection in this piece.
Thank you for taking the time to read this piece and do a reflection. I sort of felt like I was alone in this, and it turns out a lot of people do relate to this experience and knowing that things can change mid-year, not necessarily in a bad way but the second half of the year can be insight and data, helping guide us for the intentions for the rest of the year. Would love to hear your answers!
Question five stayed with me. It made me think about how much we keep because it makes our life easier to explain. A job, a project, or a role can look fine on paper and still not be something we would choose again.
I totally hear you. It makes you really think about what’s truly important what you really want. Life’s funny, sometimes it’s about us having to experience it first before we truly know, maybe that’s what it’s about 🥹
I've been building something this year — not a career, not a business, but a voice. A way of looking at the world that feels true to me. I've written about Germany's industrial decline, about children who died in Romania's communist orphanages, about genetics and the meaning of existence.
But I've also been asking myself the same question you ask: What would I not restart if it disappeared tomorrow?
For me, it's the version of myself that explains. The one that apologizes preemptively. The one that justifies choices nobody is questioning.
The audit you've written is the first framework I've seen that actually measures the life I'm living — not the one I announced in January.
I'm so glad this resonated, and thank you for sharing. I totally relate to always having that default behavior of explaining oneself or trying to seek validation and trying to create answers that appease others, and start creating the life that you want without any external validation. I'm so glad that there was a positive takeaway from this, and you now have a framework to help measure the life you want to live!
Question 5 is a good one! Like the classic "if this employee was re-applying for their job, would you hire them?"
My birthday is in July so I always do new years resolutions 2x, once now and once in Jan. I think you're so right that 6 months is a good timeframe, 12 is too long.
My goal last year was to make $1 from something I built, something I own - I made $100 last month, so I'm thinking next year's goal is a $1,000 month... but maybe from doing something that I believe could make $10,000? I want to stop myself from playing small, but not make myself so miserable I stop *playing*
Just trying it on before I lock it in at the end of the month :) thanks for listening
Thanks so much for sharing, Rebecca. I really love how you adopted this mindset from the start that there can be two resolutions in one year. I never really thought of it that way until recently. And I believe you can achieve those goals! so really rooting for you.
Decdiing what to actively stop doing is always harder than deciding to start ... we get into a habit, and even if it is not doing what we hoped it would do, we tend to stick at it, much longer than we should!
I'm still thinking about question five. Let me get back to you once I have chewed on it some more, but I absolutely love the five questions and plan to sit with them the next two days. Gosh, how wonderful! I absolutely loved the reflection in this piece.
Thank you for taking the time to read this piece and do a reflection. I sort of felt like I was alone in this, and it turns out a lot of people do relate to this experience and knowing that things can change mid-year, not necessarily in a bad way but the second half of the year can be insight and data, helping guide us for the intentions for the rest of the year. Would love to hear your answers!
Question five stayed with me. It made me think about how much we keep because it makes our life easier to explain. A job, a project, or a role can look fine on paper and still not be something we would choose again.
I totally hear you. It makes you really think about what’s truly important what you really want. Life’s funny, sometimes it’s about us having to experience it first before we truly know, maybe that’s what it’s about 🥹
Katie,
This arrived at exactly the right moment.
I've been building something this year — not a career, not a business, but a voice. A way of looking at the world that feels true to me. I've written about Germany's industrial decline, about children who died in Romania's communist orphanages, about genetics and the meaning of existence.
But I've also been asking myself the same question you ask: What would I not restart if it disappeared tomorrow?
For me, it's the version of myself that explains. The one that apologizes preemptively. The one that justifies choices nobody is questioning.
The audit you've written is the first framework I've seen that actually measures the life I'm living — not the one I announced in January.
Thank you for this.
The Modern Lens
I'm so glad this resonated, and thank you for sharing. I totally relate to always having that default behavior of explaining oneself or trying to seek validation and trying to create answers that appease others, and start creating the life that you want without any external validation. I'm so glad that there was a positive takeaway from this, and you now have a framework to help measure the life you want to live!
Question 5 is a good one! Like the classic "if this employee was re-applying for their job, would you hire them?"
My birthday is in July so I always do new years resolutions 2x, once now and once in Jan. I think you're so right that 6 months is a good timeframe, 12 is too long.
My goal last year was to make $1 from something I built, something I own - I made $100 last month, so I'm thinking next year's goal is a $1,000 month... but maybe from doing something that I believe could make $10,000? I want to stop myself from playing small, but not make myself so miserable I stop *playing*
Just trying it on before I lock it in at the end of the month :) thanks for listening
Thanks so much for sharing, Rebecca. I really love how you adopted this mindset from the start that there can be two resolutions in one year. I never really thought of it that way until recently. And I believe you can achieve those goals! so really rooting for you.
Decdiing what to actively stop doing is always harder than deciding to start ... we get into a habit, and even if it is not doing what we hoped it would do, we tend to stick at it, much longer than we should!
Yes this is so true!
I love this, thanks for sharing!
This is very explicit and meaningful.
Thank you! I hope it helped!
Yes,yes