your checklist for a new month - feeling inspired and ready for a fresh start!

hello !

it’s a new month!! how are we feeling??

i think it’s super easy to get swept up in the days, weeks and months of the year, so much so that we get to a new month and ask ourselves “how is it April already?”.

this year i’m really trying super hard to be intentional about making the most of each day and not feeling like the year is slipping by so fast ! because it really just stresses me out when it feels like time is flying by and i haven’t done anything!! and I think i’ve done a reasonable job at this so far !

i think one of the things I’ve done well to do this, is have really intentional monthly resets.

and this is something I wanted to share with you because I also want you to feel inspired and excited about a fresh start! and not worried about where did the time go!

i started doing these little intentional things last month, and i genuinely had such a good March!

so consider this your official welcome to your new month checklist, to help inspire you for the month ahead and to make the most of every day !

• Reflections !

  
  

Something I love to do, before moving on to the next month is reflect on the one that’s just been! Make a journal page about what you did, even print out some photos and make a little scrapbook page ! Here’s my March in photos journal page:

Along with this, I also did a March reflection page.

Here I wrote about how I went with some of my goals, and how i’m feeling now at the end of March. Think of this as a little love letter to the month! What did you do and how have you felt.

And remember (!) just because i've called this a love letter doesn’t mean it all has to be happy and positive. It’s okay if it wasn’t an easy or amazing month, write about the hard things. It may even help you feel a bit lighter letting it out of your brain :) But there’s no perfect here ! No right or wrong. Just reflecting !

If you are feeling a little bit stressed and feeling like this year is slipping away from you, I’d recommend journaling about what have you accomplished or done so far this year?

Nothing is too little that it can’t go on this list, okay? I’m not asking you to find major life changing accomplishments - of course if you have those then write them down too!! But it could be things like - bought myself flowers, gone to a farmers market, baked myself a sweet treat, read a few books!

The point of this is NOT to make you feel bad that you haven’t done enough!! Because first off that’s not true, you being here is you doing enough. The purpose of it is to show you that you are doing so well. And time is not slipping away!

• Mood board !

  
  

My new favourite thing to do for a new month the last two months has been to create a mood board for the month. it’s time to get excited and inspired!!!! who do you want to be this month?

here's my April mood board !

for me i want to do lots of baking ! read a couple of books! be productive! be active! watch sunrises and sunsets! feel the joy of the Lord!! and make some hot chocolate !

the idea of the monthly mood board is about creating the vibe that you want to feel over this next month.

i love love love making mood boards!!! i’m such a visual pinterest girlie person, and making them just make me SO excited and ready and inspired!!!

• Setting intentions !

Goals are so great! I personally loveeee setting some monthly goals!!

But something else that is also great (if not even greaterr !) is setting intentions.

What do you want to leave behind in the last month?

What are you closing the door on as you head into this new month?

For example: leaving behind mindless scrolling on my phone, or procastinating.

But then, you also want to ask yourself, what do you want to focus on this month? What do you want to bring in to this new month? What are your intentions?

This morning I made my own list of my April ins ! -->

This kind of goes along with your mood board - what do you want to be doing and what kind of person do you want to be this month?

Like for me - that’s someone who gets up early and goes for a happy girl walk (even if i don’t particularly feel like it!). someone who takes care of herself. writes a to do list each day, and does lots of journaling !

• Taking action !

  
  

Now we have this beautiful fresh start of a new month, and we’ve created intentions and gotten inspired → we actually want to do our best to stick with these!!

So print off your mood board, look at your intentions all the time ! journal heaps and reflect on each day about how you’re doing and feeling.

If you made a goal to read 2 books, make time to read!! If you want to do an at home workout 2x a week, look at your planner and decide what days you're going to do them and what videos you’re going to follow.

Quick Pep talk before you go !!!

Now before you click out of this post, I need to tell you something important. Do not give up. Okay? Do not give up!!!

I am a firm believer in one day at a time. It’s one of my favourite motto’s I tell myself almost every day ! This month (and just every day in general !!!), don’t be so hard on yourself please. If one day, you scroll on your phone heaps even though you told yourself you wouldn’t, it’s okay. If you wake up late, even when you told yourself you were going to get up early to go for a walk, it’s okay.

It is okay.

I promise it really truly is.

Don't give up !

An amazing thing about life is that the sun rises again tomorrow! Every single day is a fresh start. Every day. And the motivational boost of a new month is so much fun!! But really we get this fresh start every day. You can make a new mood board, set new goals and intentions, whatever day you’d like. You get to start fresh every single day, literally anytime you want !

So please don’t be upset with yourself on the days where things don’t go exactly to plan. Every single person has those days ! It’s okay!!!

It’s about being able to make the most out of every day!

There’s been days where I planned to get up super early to go for a walk, but instead I woke up super tired. Some days yes, it’s great to still push yourself (gently) and get up for your walk because you know deep down it will make you feel better ! But other days, like this day for me, I could tell I needed rest. So I stayed in bed and watched some gilmore girls before getting up and ready for the morning. And you know what, I still had a great day!! Because that’s what the word intentional is about for me. Making the most of each day!

And because i started falling into this mindset in the last month, i had a really great March. Not because it was perfect - I had days where I felt super anxious and not working towards any of my goals, I had days where I was sick and didn’t do anything productive. But in reflecting on March, I had nothing but joy for the month!

So being hard on yourself really doesn’t get you anywhere. But being intentional, being kind to yourself, and taking it one day at a time does !

So be kind to yourself each day please. I hope you have a really really great month!!

And send me a message if you make a new month mood board!!! I'd love to see yours ! :)

Okay that's all from me for today. I love you so much!

Jess x