1/2 Year Recap

As an avid reader of College Prepster, I was reading her blog on Wednesday morning and found this post she made about how it is halfway through 2017 {I'm sorry what?!} and where she is at with her goals/how she is feeling about the rest of the year.  I was instantly inspired. I always make goals at the beginning of 2017 but I never thought to make a 1/2 way point post? Why? I don't know...here goes nothing! I decided to organize my goals first by my resolutions and then just some overall thoughts at the bottom. 
#1: Organize - I talked about how unorganized my inbox was and how I wanted to change that. Well we're halfway through the year and I officially switched to Gmail, hello 101 in 1001, and I feel so so so much better about my email than I ever have. The rest of my life isn't very organized...yet...I think I did a pretty good job in the spring semester but in the summer it kind of all goes back to non-organized. I am waiting for the perfect time to fill my new Lilly planner up with everything I have going on in the fall and I actually started studying the subjects I am taking this fall a few weeks ago hoping that understanding the basic concepts really gives me a leg up in the fall. I feel so #organized {just kidding}. 
#2: Activity - Okay, this is in two parts. First, I did spend more time with other friends in the spring. I really did become closer to my sisters in my spirit group and I hung out more with my Comm Council littles and other friends. I am patting myself on the back for that because it was hard. Also, I did stay on campus more and I studied in new libraries/buildings, it felt so nice to connect with my college again. Second, I don't think I made new friends at college...I don't think so. This is something I want to work on more in the fall, I need to be able to make friends on the first day...I need to. I'm adding a new part to this goal and that is to explore Austin more, I only have one year left and I need to take advantage of it while I can.
#3: Effort - First of all, I was so freaking proud of myself. I put on an actual outfit every day of class/internship except for about 10. It took so much effort not to just throw on leggings but I think I had more confidence because I put effort into my appearance for myself.  Another thing I wanted to do was work harder on my journalism because it had fallen to the wayside and I did!!! I now write for Longhorn Life, HerCampus, Spoon U and I interned at Texas Monthly, prior to that I only wrote once a month for Longhorn Life. Lastly, I wanted to spend more time studying and I really did. This was an incredibly hard semester for me {3 business classes and a hard journalism class}. I worked so hard and I felt amazing when the semester was over because I tried my absolute hardest. However, I don't think I did the best job of compartmentalizing things, this is something I am really looking to accomplish in the fall. 
#4: Motto - My motto this year, as cheesy as it is {and believe me, I know how cheesy it is}, is "If not now, then when?" I would give myself a 30% on this one because I did get out more and try new restaurants, I did put more effort into studying, I did hangout with people more and I did spend more time on campus. But I am in such D E N I A L about graduating. I won't even think about it, if I feel my brain going down that path I quickly steer it back to the task at hand. I am actually terrified of going back in the fall because it will mean the beginning of the end. But I'm going to have to accept it at some point, which is my goal for August 30th: Accept Your Fate. And then learn to go with the motto....we'll see. 
Overall, I have had a really good 2017, there were some downs but I think there were more ups. Everything can always be improved upon and I agree that it should be. However, my boss' boss talked to the interns a few weeks ago and he said something about how we spend so much time focusing on what we are bad at that we forget to focus on what we are really good at. I think we are all guilty of saying, "well I'm terrible at Spanish" let me spend the next 4 years trying to get really good at it, when you might just be terrible at Spanish. I'm not saying we don't need to improve, we do, but there has to be a way to where you don't lose yourself in the process. You are who you are and that is an amazing, unique person. Don't let Spanish/Finance/Painting/Talking to Boys get you down -just be you. 

Have yourself a cupcake - 2017 is halfway over.