We are getting eerily close to the halfway point in this challenge, and I feel like this could be a good time to reflect, but I may be avoiding that a little bit in fear of disappointment of the lack of progress I have made.

I didn't set myself a lot of goals for this year except for three big ones:

1. Lose some weight/Get away from my highest weight.

2. Pay off my credit card debt.

3. Read through my TBR/use the things I am not using.

I have been going through phases where I focus on one of these and the others go on the backburner, though I'm trying to make them harmonious. Right now, my focus seems to be on reading. This week, I joined three summer reading challenges and created a Storygraph challenge for myself of all of the titles that I physically own and have not yet read with an end goal date of 12/31/26. I'm going to put a book buying ban on myself until I can finish that challenge.

There are currently 51 books on there, but I'm confident I can make it through them all by the end of the year. <3

I joined a challenge at my gym to have 33 check-ins over the next two(?) months for a free month of membership. That seems like a healthy, low-stakes effort to keep me coming to the gym regularly. The gym has been a healthy coping mechanism for me as I feel like there's so much happening in my orbit lately that is out of my control. The gym is the one thing I have control over, and I've been enjoying it a lot more this year than I have in the past.

In an effort to gain some control over things in my life, I took the time to clean out my space this week. I went through some clothes, organized my dresser, caught up on laundry, sorted through my books, and might pack some things I'm not using whilst in this temporary space up for now. I have board games that I haven't played for the past five months, DVDs and CDs I haven't reached for, and I can make more space in my space if I put them in storage for now.

I have had some friends tell me they're concerned about me because I've been this pit of misery recently with so much happening against me consistently and it has been starting to take an emotional toll. This challenge has served as an anchor for me. Like a, well, I've committed to changing my life by January and we're already this far, so how can I abandon it.

I keep finding slivers of steps to take to make the best out of situations and make a better version of myself and I appreciate anybody who is reading this who is along for the ride. <3