A mid-year reflection on the intentions for 2023

As I write this, my butt hurts from sitting too long, the multi-cooker is humming, the room is redolent with the smell of cooked chickpeas, and the sun is bright yellow on the wooden floor.

The beginning of this year was taken up by being sick on and off, feeling old grief, and becoming a published author, one of my poems has been published in an anthology, and it was a dream come true to buy a book with my poem in it at a local bookstore. Yay!! \o/ \o/ \o/

Intentions for 2023 - What the "F"?

Like past years, I had set intentions for this year too, and here are the guiding words that came up for this year: Focus, Feeling, and Fun. Oh, and learning more about Fostering kids. See how all the “F”s lined up? ;)

Here's a reflection on how my intentions showed up in the year so far:

The mid-year (ish) review

Focus

I have multiple interests - writing, drawing, research, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth, etc. Over the last few years, I must have taken at least 50 courses in these areas. They were short courses, lasting from a week to max. two months.

After this exploration, I now feel a longing to start a longer program that would contribute to my career transition, and saw three options (see below). Choosing one of these means I need to focus on one thing at a time and visit the rest after that.

• A course on novel writing that could last up to a year because I want to be a bestselling fiction writer.
• A formal course on becoming a professional artist/illustrator - also 9 months - 1 year
• Become a certified coach with an approach that centers around the body and felt experience instead of just intellectual thinking.

I finally chose body-centered coaching certification education because of two reasons.

• I regularly coach people in UX teams and also readers who might reach out from my newsletters. And I would like to deepen my skills so that I am able to give people tools that help them grow while feeling grounded in their bodies and life.
• Also, it will help me go deeper within and that will make my writing and drawing richer.

After getting feedback from some past students, I joined the program Feminine Embodiment Coaching Certification by Jenna Ward. I am looking forward to starting it. This means that the rest of my learning is on hold till I finish this over the coming year.

Feeling

Attending 12-step program meetings regularly and psycho-somatic therapy is helping me feel, reflect, and acknowledge more things about myself and life. I can connect much more easily with sadness now, though anger is still hard for me. Feeling angry makes me get anxious. But I believe if I stay with this process, I will arrive there.

Fun (and rollercoasters!)

I am doing well with Fun this year - usually, I feel anxious leaving for vacations or spontaneous day trips because I keep feeling like I forgot to do something or am supposed to be elsewhere. But these days, I am able to see this feeling, feel it, and tell myself that it's okay if I forget something.

So I have been meeting friends, walking in nature, and trying out nice activities with loved ones. I traveled to see friends and family and saw new places and cities or revisited old favorites.

I am also daring to try things I want to try but am afraid of - one step at a time. Like riding rollercoasters for the first time in 39 years :). They are so fun!

Fostering children

My husband & I attended an information session on fostering, and now we are in the process of signing up for further information sessions.

We have been dragging our feet on filling up the extensive paperwork but writing this here is a good reminder to go forward.

In summary

All in all, I am very happy with the progress on all the intentions. I do get impatient with the progress on "Feeling" when I am not able to "solve" a feeling I don't like, e.g., anger. But I guess I should feel that and let it go - meta 😃!

How are you doing on your mid-year intentions?