July theme reveal

July is upon us and amazingly we are half way through another year. We have just passed the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere which means that the days will become longer and we are heading towards Spring.

Over the last few months, I appear to have fallen into a Monthly Theme on the blog and the response has been surprising and encouraging. I was looking back at the last six months (as you do) and what themes I had covered and thought that June would be the perfect time to STOP the themes. However, I discovered a new theme which was part of a poll I conducted in my Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond Facebook Group.

The Themes so far…

It all started back in February with #FitFabFeb

The idea for #FitFabFeb2019 was to make lifestyle changes to be healthier and happier. Putting into place a good foundation to keep building on.

March was #MakingMarchMeaningful

This theme continued with lifestyle changes with the emphasis on looking at ways to bring meaning to our lives. It was about learning and improving ways to be more mindful and appreciating the small things in life.

April was #ActiveApril – Get Active and Feel Alive

This was a challenge to be active daily.  To make the commitment for the month starting a new lifestyle and being accountable for making changes to a fitter and healthier lifestyle. The idea wasn’t all about physical exercise.  Being Active and Feeling Alive also needs to come from within and that is why I included ideas to Exercise our Brains daily and connect with our Spiritual Self.

May was #MicrosteppinginMay

This was all about changing habits one small step at a time. It was about building on the small wins until eventually it becomes a positive habit. Being more mindful of what we do and asking ourselves if it is good for us or if we need to remove it from our life.

June was #JunkFreeInJune

#JunkFreeInJune was not just about removing the junk food from our lives but covered topics such as decluttering our minds, our wardrobes and living spaces. I came up with 30 ways of Removing the Junk and Clutter from our lives and the most popular tip was unsubscribing from emails! You can read the first 15 HERE and the second 15 HERE

All of the themes were not just about being physically active or eating healthier. They were more encompassing of our lives as a whole including our mental and spiritual needs.

July theme reveal

So what have I in store for July? Ta dah!!! #JournalinginJuly

As I mentioned, I conducted a quick poll in my Facebook Group and asked the question: ‘Do you keep a journal?’

38% responded ‘Yes’

38% responded ‘Sometimes’

25% responded ‘No’

I’m in the 25% and don’t keep a journal. I’ve started several times and even visited my favourite stationery shop, Kikki K to purchase a beautiful journal and shiny new pen. I love stationery but even though I tried I just couldn’t get into putting my thoughts down on paper. I’ve surprised myself that I can blog and write creatively in this forum but writing in a journal just doesn’t seem to happen for me.

We often read about the benefits of keeping a journal and in her guest post, Peta from Strong Healthy Women wrote about The Power of Writing to clear the junk from our minds.

I was surfing the net as I do, and came across an old post from 2013 on a website. It was a journalling challenge and so I’ve adapted it for my theme in July.

It seems the universe was sending me a message!

I’ve set myself a small challenge and I would love you to join me.

What is #JournalingInJuly?

This may not be your idea of keeping a journal but I’m looking at it as a challenge to extend my creative writing.

• I’ve put together 31 topics – one for each day. The writing prompts are designed especially for those of us who have difficulty putting pen to paper or for the more experienced journaller (is that a word?) perhaps provide some new ideas.

• It can be bullet points, a few paragraphs or as long as you wish. The idea is to think, write and perhaps learn more about yourself.

• I will be having guest contributors each week to write about journaling and/or taking a topic from the list to write about.

• For the Bloggers, I have teamed up with Debbie from Deb’s World to host a link up each Saturday for the month of July only. You can select a topic from the list and write about it then link up for us all to share and enjoy.

Journaling can be a very personal thing so obviously you may want to keep your writing and thoughts just for you.

Here is the list of topics and I do hope that you will have some fun and enjoy this ‘challenge’ for July. Remember NO PRESSURE, some days you may find inspiration from the prompt and want to write and other days you won’t. I would also love to hear your feedback and perhaps you have some topics you could add to the list going forward.

Are you in? Will you be joining me for #JournalinginJuly?

The Over 50 & Thriving Series has been going for 18 months now and I’ve had some fabulous contributors. I will be taking a break from the series although always open to hearing your stories so contact me if you would like to contribute in the future. In the meantime, thank you again to all of you who have shared your inspiring stories and ways we can Thrive Over 50. You can catch up or re-read all of the contributions HERE.