Whoops, June has been super busy and so I’m more than two weeks late in getting this check in done! I’ll keep it short, but want to stay accountable by still talking about my goal progress in May.
Toward the end of the month, I fell off the bandwagon with my morning routine of 10 pushups, 20 lunges, and 30 plank leg lifts. About halfway through the month, I switched from lunges to bodyweight split squats, and I liked that change (it felt like it made my routine faster), but this one has been a bit hard for me to sustain because every morning is so different! Weekday mornings in Colorado I often wake up just in time for my daily 6am conference call with India, but when I’m on the East Coast, that call is at 8am and I wake up and head straight to Orangetheory. Overall, for the month of May, I would remember to do this at some point during the day… but not always first thing at all. And toward the end of May / beginning of June, I skipped it entirely! I’m trying to get back on track now for the rest of June.
However, walking for five minutes before bed has been a routine I’ve kept up no matter where my travels take me. I’m usually doing it while I get ready for bed, and it’s become habitual for me to start the timer just before I head to the bathroom to start brushing my teeth. So… maybe I’m making excuses for myself with the morning routine? I’m just happy this one is sticking.
As I wrote at the beginning of this month, my goal of reading 100 books this year is right on track – and actually a bit ahead. I think this may be my most prolific year of reading yet! I’ll attribute that to working on a project where we rarely do team/client dinners, so I usually end up reading on my Kindle during most meals 🙂
May was a bit of a slow month for me with volunteering; I spent a lot of time training for new volunteer opportunities, but not a lot of time actually helping. One thing that this year has taught me is how time-consuming it can be just to get ready to volunteer! I really appreciate how easy it is to just jump into serving meals at Denver Rescue Mission, so that remains my favorite volunteer work so far. However, in May, I also began training to be a volunteer for Boulder County Parks & Open Space – I’ll be teaching families about our local history at Walker Ranch at scheduled events during the year. It’s been a lot of fun to learn about local history as well as how best to teach it to others. And, I also completed the interview process and training to become a mentor at Champa House, a transitional housing program for single mothers and their children. I can’t wait to be matched with my mentee and start working there on a weekly basis!
Finally, May wasn’t a great month for me for cooking and sharing my creations – a lot of travel meant that I cooked less than usual, and the times I was in town, I tended to make boring old standbys rather than anything new or photo-worthy.
So… onto June? We’re already more than halfway through but I’m decently happy with my progress in each of these areas, except perhaps cooking. I need to be home more than I am lately!! That will come in July…