June Swallowed Me Whole... and Here's Where I Am At. Maybe You Are Too.

By Erica Ogden | Set Apart Coaching

I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm late on this blog post. And normally that would send me into a spiral of self-imposed pressure, an intense catch-up plan, and a very long internal lecture about consistency, efficiency, and proactivity.

But here's the thing... I can't even bring myself to care right now. And I think that's actually the point.

June swallowed me whole. I sent my son off to college (fishing pole and all). I took a week on a cruise with my family. I drove down to his college for orientation, helped settle him in, and somewhere in between all of that and the Fourth of July, I looked up and realized I had been running nonstop.

And yet... while I felt really busy and a little worn down, it was fulfilling. A lot of heart stuff accomplished with some tasks on the side but no major aha moments, life changes decided or decisions made.

Not productive. Not checked-off. Not ahead of schedule. Just full.

There is something about the month of June that always makes me pause.

Here's What I've Been Thinking About.....

Normally July is my month. I either hit a wall and stall out until the kids go back to school, or most years, I hit the gas pedal. My people know this about me. I get intentional. I get evaluative -- yep, I'm making that a word!

I pull out what I said I wanted, hold it up to what actually happened, and I get strategic about the second half.

But this July, the question that kept coming up with me, and with several of my clients too, wasn't "what have you accomplished?"

It was "what have you built into your life that is actually feeding your soul?"

And that question really hit me different this year.

Because we can have a vision board. We can have a list of goals from January sitting right there on our desk. We can be checking boxes and hitting metrics and by every measurable standard having a "successful" year... and still feel empty.

So I want to ask you something, and I really want you to sit with it:

Do you even remember what you committed to in January?

No judgment. Truly. But if you do remember -- does it still matter to you the same way? Does it still carry the same weight seven months in? Or have you been white-knuckling your way toward someone else's version of a successful year?

The Permission Slip You Didn't Know You Needed

Here's what I want you to hear: you are allowed to reassess. To completely RE-DO if you need to!

You are allowed to look at a goal you set in January and say that's not actually what I want anymore. You are allowed to re-prioritize. To release. To redirect.

Proverbs 16:9 says "The heart of a person plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Not every January intention is a God-breathed direction. Some of them were pressure. Some were comparison. Some were who you thought you were supposed to be.

And it is okay to lay those down if they don't feel right anymore.

The Question That Actually Matters

So instead of handing you an action plan for the second half of the year, I want to leave you with this:

What do you want the next six months to feel like?

Not look like. Feel like.

Where do you want your heart to be on December 31st? Not your bank account, not your follower count, not your to-do list... your heart. Those things are great and important too -- don't get me wrong. But if what it is taking to get those things where you want them isn't also simultaneously filling your soul, then you need to make sure you're incorporating those things just as intentionally as you are the goals on your list.

What are the things -- maybe quiet, maybe simple, maybe not Instagrammable at all -- that feed your soul and make you feel like yourself? Are those things in your schedule? Are they protected? Are they even on the list?

Because here's what I know after years of coaching women and years of living this myself: you can accomplish a lot and still feel like you missed the year entirely. And you can have a quieter, slower, more intentional season and feel like it was the most meaningful thing you've ever done. But make sure you don't allow guilt for the rest to creep in during these seasons... more on that another time. 😉

The goal was never just productivity. The goal was always a life that feels like yours.

So Here's Your Mid-Year Check-In.... Heart First

Grab a journal, your notes app, or honestly just five quiet minutes, and ask yourself:

What has brought me genuine joy in the last six months -- not accomplishment, joy?

What am I still chasing that I'm not even sure I want anymore?

What am I not chasing and wish I was?

What do I want more of?

When I reflect back in December, what would make these months leading up to it feel like a win... in my soul, not just on paper?

That's your starting point. Not a goal list. Not a productivity audit. Your heart.

The second half of this year still has so much in it. But let's make sure what you're running toward is actually where you want to end up. Not just toward some metric or number or thing... but the "why" behind it.

With love and a little less pressure,

Erica Ogden

Certified Neuro Coach | Set Apart Coaching

Ready to do this kind of work with someone in your corner? I'd love to be that person. Learn more at ericaogden.com/transformation