#7 Let's do this - February wrap-up

and for those of us who hate summer, hopefully that is over too!

Well, hello!

I briefly considered pushing through and writing this on Friday so that it could actually still be February but decided to give myself grace instead and use my usual time on a Sunday.

February indeed lived up to its short month status - blink and it was over. However, here in Johannesburg, we had a deliciously COLD week, so cold I needed boots and jackets and scarves! All utterly lovely.

I am already, as I sit here in jeans and flip-flops, longing for real winter. But never fear, it is now officially the most beautiful season, autumn! I cannot wait for the leaves to turn and I will be smiling from ear to ear the minute there is that lovely refreshing crispness to our mornings again.

I’m going to be crossing off another goal this week when I complete my first client trip of the year to Cape Town. I try to be efficient and cram everything into 3 days which means I’ll see 6 - 7 clients, 2 direct reports, 4 friends and will fly back home, completely knackered but with my connection cup full.

Speaking of goals…

Gold stars

1. Dion and I are 2/2 for monthly date nights (this is a miracle).

2. Our family is 2/2 for family fun things. (the key seems to be doing things even if you don’t initially feel like it)

3. We’ve booked a holiday for our 30th anniversary in April.

4. I read 9 books, more below.

5. I can hold both legs in a stretch I couldn’t do before. (long story but when I signed up with my personal trainer and had my consultation, I told her that aside from the usual stuff - strengthen my core, etc. - I also want to be able to hold a stretch I could do but have somehow lost) This happened on Wednesday 26th and I am very excited.

6. I had 4 1:1 friend dates (I’m only tracking 1:1 dates on my 5 X 5 grid) and 3 other socials

7. I gave 7 gifts. I’m going to exceed my 50 gifts for the year because number 7 of Feb was already number 43.

8. I did something very brave that I can’t speak about and maybe nothing will come of it, but I feel glad that I did it.

88% of Feb goals done!

Demerits

1. I tried to spend one of my vouchers and it expired last year during the time of all the crying (birthday month). I plan to spend one voucher every month.

2. The weight is just not budging. I’m not too bothered but I really should be. However, I’m more concerned with sorting out the “other health things” and apparently my mind can’t focus on too many things at one time.

3. I need to write about this somewhere but I’m not sure how to navigate a friendship something - how there have probably been 4 gatherings where not one person has asked a single question about how I’m doing. It is very weird. Do I just jump in and address the elephant in the room? And no, this is not something off-limits and we do speak about other people’s things, just not mine.

4. On Friday night (as I typed those words, I thought, in typical Enneagram 1 style - maybe if I’d pushed through, this wouldn’t have happened?) I woke at about 11pm to flooding on the top floor of our house. We had no water and a child didn’t close the tap properly or at all (I can’t even remember) and when the water came back on, well, the entire upstairs flooded. So that was a few hours of “fun” . This is why my study looks like this; all the wet files and I only had one shelf of files) are facing the window to dry. As soon as I hit publish, I’m going to declutter stuff I don’t want (yay - silver lining?) Do you know how much stuff I can fit into one shelf?!!!

What I read and loved in February ——>

My favourite reads were the three non-fiction titles. They are for very different audiences which are somehow all venn diagrammed in me. If I were to recommend, I’d say:

Excuse me while I disappear - Laurie Notaro - for the peri or menopausal woman (funny, like proper funny where I laughed out loud and sprayed my toothpaste!, but also honest and I felt very seen)

To sell is human - Daniel H Pink - business people. I told one of my direct reports about this book and apparently sold it very well (yay!) because it is next on her TBR list once we finish our current work book club read. Real selling is actually a part of my job but the point of the book is that we are all in the business of selling.

Organizing for the rest of us - Dana K White. I am actually not “the rest of us” but I still loved and could see how most of her strategies could be life-changing for most non-organised people. My favourite strategy? How everything is a container. EVERYTHING.

My favourite fiction read was The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella. I’m on a Sophie Kinsella kick at the moment since my library acquired many titles and I basically borrowed or put holds on all of them. Even as I type this, I am reading another Kinsella! If you’ve ever felt that panic from an overfull inbox where people are already following up on things you don’t even know about but they’ve emailed you, you will love this book.

What do I have to look forward to in March?

1. The Cape Town trip

2. A public holiday on an actual Friday (don’t they feel better next to a weekend?!)

3. St. Patrick’s Day and reading the Cathy Kelly (Never too late) as mentioned on my bookstagram (I like to be reading something Irish on the 17th!)

4. my first oncology check-up since radiation ended

5. Booking the next holiday

How was your February? And what are you looking forward to in March?