It’s the start of a new quarter, so I figured I’d write a previous quarter review type of post. This post is longer than usual and is probably as long-winded as I’ll ever get in blogging. You’ve been warned!
About the blog
What’s in a name? More and more my resolve about the direction of this blog is becoming more confirmed. I love the freedom I have to write on various topics, and the casual atmosphere I’ve been trying to build. If I ever wanted a niche blog/site I’d simply start from scratch on another url and that’s that. New beginnings don’t scare me as much anymore. I had also contemplated blogging under my own name and came to the conclusion that if I ever were to write a book about myself I would never name it my name and so my personal journey blog won’t be my name either. Where did ‘Asummermoon’ come from anyway? I keep saying that I’ll write a post about how I came up with the name maybe sometime this summer I will…
Why Are You here taking up cyber space? This year I’ve been really trying to grasp an understanding of the purpose and mission of this blog itself and couldn’t come up with just one answer. I blog for self-expression out loud; while that reason may be more on the selfish side, I wanted a visible (hopefully more) positive outlet because #1 sharing my story is a part of my mission, and #2 (2 and 3?) for accountability purposes, and to keep myself in check from being the unhealthy, pessimistic, and unproductive me I was, (so maybe not completely selfish). Going back to #1, I blog to share resources; I’ve always had the intention to share what I’ve learned whether a bad experience or good so that my lessons could help someone else who came across the site, perhaps they will find answers I myself once sought out or at least not make the same stupid mistakes I’ve made. Also, I’ve mentioned it before that lynettedavis.com was started as a recovery blog. I was a young woman in transition after a stormy season of stumbles, falls, crisis and tribulations. I want others to find something here that can help them on their journey too. With all that being said, I started writing a mission/purpose statement for the blog. Here’s what I have so far:
Asummermoon.com is a personal journey blog that strives to Inspire action despite fear, lack of confidence, and lack of experience; Revive passion, despite trying to convince yourself that contentment and fulfillment belongs to everyone you bust your butt for and not yourself; and Empower the inner child inside, despite growing up in a society that does its best to stifle the very part of you that still believes in the power of dreams. This is an unedited statement; I simply wrote what was in my heart. I don’t know if every blog post will fit into a neat category or if I can measure up to what I strive to deliver but here is my starting point and I’m happy to have you along for the ride J
So that’s that…
About Life
Again, I’ll share my theme and word for the year.
The theme for the year is: Reestablish, Connect, and Go Confidently
My word for the year is Confidence
As I’ve shared before in previous reviews, I center most of my goals for the year around 6 areas or slices of life: Personal, Social, Physical, Spiritual, Professional, and Financial. So my theme is in essence the vision I have for the year and the slices help me organize my steps to realize that vision in a balanced way.
This 2nd quarter, the majority of my focus was on my Professional, Social, and Personal slices. But, I’m happy to report I managed to work on each area. Physical: The weather broke so it’s easier for me to get up, stretch and power walk in the morning. Spiritual: I journal to gather my thoughts about purpose and destiny, (and all that jazz). I also pretty consistently have prayer and/or praise time before I start my day as well. I had to get up an hour earlier to do so but it’s been so worth it. Financial: I cut out a major expense so I could better position myself to start paying down my debt (still not so sure how this one is working out. I keep chanting to myself ‘short-term sacrifice for long-term gain’). Ok onto the nitty gritty…
Professional: I’ve been really trying to find and hone my incredible factor in business and decided to drop services that were supposed to challenge me out of my comfort zone but became more like a personal Medusa and froze me from wanting to take any action period. After doing that, I began to focus my marketing on the main service that I wanted to offer the most and that I was more than willing to improve upon. With my new focus, I was able to welcome two new members into my client family. The goal is obviously win-win for everyone involved.
Social: I really focused on intentional love in the 2nd quarter because believe it not, this love thing was and still is a big struggle area for me. Here’s a little of the backstory; through my healing process I discovered myself to be very cold, stubborn and very selfish. These traits were so hidden inside my heart that for the most part, nobody around me really knew just how broken I really was, I even had myself convinced that I was a “lovely person” due to being labeled a “good girl”, a role I given was to play, a mask I dressed on myself in order to have a sense of security. So I became the kind of person who smiled when people hurt me, and tried to become someone I wasn’t in order to make everyone else around me happy. I also walked away from anyone who wouldn’t let me fix them, or dared to see me for who I really was; I was a classic caretaker. Upon recognition of how very angry and very bitter I was at everyone who took advantage of me and myself for allowing it, I became more anti-social and less willing to go beyond the surface of love. In a fit of rebellion, I became the complete opposite of what I previously displayed and embraced being a cold, stubborn, and selfish person. And then, I learned the deeper meaning behind the word forgiveness. And thanks to forgiveness, I learned that there was still good in me despite my own self-condemnation and eventually moved towards inner-peace and balance. I began to love because I wanted to, not because I was scared of being alone, rejected, and not accepted. With that being said, I worked towards being more honest and conscious of the way I expressed my honesty with myself, my family, and my boyfriend. I had to bust out the Five Love Languages on several occasions in order to do so. I also wanted to make time to know more about my family; to move beyond the belief that we just had nothing in common and get interested about their dreams and vision for life. This is still a work in progress, but I’m making great strides.
Personal: I’ve still been working on being more productive and establishing a routine wherever possible, I tried using different productivity apps such Evernote, Google Calendars, paper calendars and a good old notebook and pen. I like apps if I’m on the go, but in the end, good old paper and pencil work best for me. In an effort to be “Green” I used recycled paper products and I recycle too! I’m still working on my poetry and 2 fictional stories on the side. So far, I actually like the plot of my 2nd story, it’s somewhat of a fantasy novel, and I’m excited about having both the beginning and ending already outlined. I still haven’t gotten to the point where I get to say, “Wow! This is really good if I do say so myself.” But one day!
So, that’s my 2nd quarter review of the year thanks for reading to those of you who stuck around!
Also, now that I’ve revealed way too much about myself, I’d love to hear about you and what you’ve been up to these past 3 months.
Until next time…