Week 7 Recap

My penultimate week in Dublin has been calm and unassuming, aka a much-needed break from the typical chaos and overwhelm that comes with studying abroad. I did go out for pizza and drinks with a couple of my roommates halfway through the week, which was delightful because we had our slices outside in St. Stephen’s Green. The rest of the week, I spent my time at home, wishing I could go to the gym but refraining in order to heal my new tattoo better.

My Six-Month Reset

This week, I watched a YouTube video about a journaling prompt called the Six-Month Reset. Typically, journalers are big on their New Year’s resolutions and goals, but sometimes forget to check in with themselves halfway through the year to reevaluate their goals and see where they achieved and where they didn’t quite make the mark. Of course, it is July now, but better late than never! What I thought would take an hour or two, maximum, turned into a five-hour journaling marathon. What’s even better is that I roped my partner into doing it with me, and I’m pretty sure he hates me now!

The first step was free-form writing for 3 pages. It sounds simple, but it took me two hours to do. I ended up writing down a lot of “this exercise is stupid.” The next steps two through ten consisted of evaluating goals from the first half of the year, why I missed them or achieved them, setting new goals for the rest of the year and ordering them in terms of importance, and putting in place systems and actionable steps for success. I was feeling pretty confident and set five goals for myself. 

The first and most important is to eliminate all unnecessary phone usage. Besides communication, navigation, and mindful long-form content, I am trying to stop using my phone completely. I’ve seen how negatively it has impacted my attention span, my memory, and overall quality of life, and if I make this change, all of my other goals will become much easier to achieve. 

My second goal is to strength train three times a week. I fell out of strength training earlier this year, since I was focused on training for a sprint triathlon instead. I also have not been able to exercise at all for the last few weeks, mostly due to illness. It is really important to me that when I get back to Pittsburgh, I find time in my schedule to regularly strength train again. 

My third goal is to read one book per month. This number is not actually set in stone; it’s more of a placeholder to make sure I am making some progress every day/week on whatever I am reading. I think that by using my phone less, it will give me more time to read, and more patience to read. I have a lot of books on my shelf and even more on my digital ‘to read’ list, and it overwhelms me that the list grows faster than I can read them. Hopefully, this goal will make my list more manageable by the end of the year.

My fourth goal is to journal regularly. I used to journal every night a few years ago, but I fell out of the habit. I wanted to start again at the beginning of the year, but some things got in the way. Nevertheless, I am committed to starting up a regular practice again. This exercise was a great way to get back into the habit: the day after, I felt an itch to journal, rather than it being something I had to force myself to do. I think I will aim for at least one entry per week, since it puts less pressure on me compared to a daily practice.

My final goal is to make more creative works. I have been drawing and painting much less compared to last year, mostly due to a lack of time, but also because architecture school drained some of my creativity. After a summer away from school, though, I have a lot of ideas floating around in my mind, and I am excited to actually put them on paper. I am also taking a drawing projects course in the fall, which will hopefully help me achieve this goal. Finally, I started junk journaling a few months ago, which is a super fun way to make creative spreads in my sketchbook without the pressure that comes with drawing.

Overall, completing this six-month reset made me feel much better about coming back home to Pittsburgh. I was feeling overwhelmed with all of the tasks I had to do, like getting my houseplants back from my friend and picking up my car from another friend’s garage. Now, I have more mental clarity for what I need to focus on when I return.

Communication Differences

I wrote about the communication style in Ireland a few weeks ago, noting that it is very high-context here, which can be difficult to transition to from American low-context communication. I am happy to say that it’s gotten a bit easier for me to communicate with people since then! I still have a lot of issues, especially with people I am not as familiar with, but I started to pick up on certain things that I was missing when I first got here. It’s a little easier to keep up in witty conversations now. At the end of the day, though, it is still exhausting, and I am grateful that at my workplace, my coworkers are very welcoming and make me feel like I can mostly be myself. I don’t try to fake anything at work; I just make sure I am kind and patient with people, as I would anywhere else.