Why You Should Do Life Check-Ins

Taking some time to look at where you are in life is a great thing to do once in a while. This is what I call a “life check-in” and It can be quite eye opening for some.

If you do not know what I am talking about-read on for an explanation!

Having a life check-in

Lots of things go on in our lives. We have goals, dreams, wants, needs, a variety of experiences, hobbies, work etc. Because of this, we tend to get caught up and can not see what is really going on.

Seeing our life as it really is. Seeing ourselves as we really are.

We all want to live our best lives but how can we do that when we do not know the type of life we are actually living? This is where a life check-in comes in handy. It allows us to take a step back and look at all the moving parts, so-to-speak.

The types of things that you can ask yourself in a life check-in are as follows:

• Am I happy?
• How are the relationships in my life? Are any of them hurting me in some type of way?
• Do I like my job? Am I fulfilled by it?
• Do I have time for myself?
• Do I engage in anything fun outside of my job?
• How do I feel physically?
• How is my diet?
• Do I exercise enough?
• Are there new things I want to try?
• What would make life better for me at this point?
• Have I been neglecting regular medical check-ups?

There are probably a lot more questions one can ask themselves but those are some good ones.

It is best to do a life check-in when you are away from work and distraction. When you can just be. A notebook or an already made workbook could be used for writing things down.

Once you have some answers regarding how your life is going, come up with a plan going forward. Make some new goals! For example, maybe you feel that you have negative thoughts about yourself in your head a lot. A goal (if you want to change this) could be to start saying positive affirmations in the mirror every morning.

My recent life check-in

I am definitely not a hypocrite when I talk about how doing life check-ins is a necessity once in a while. In fact, I just did one myself!

My check-in looked like this:

First, I made myself a tea latte with cream and S’mores Chai (I highly recommend this) from DAVIDsTEA. Since it was my day to have a treat, I ended up choosing to have some Girl Scout’s cookies with it. Delicious!

With my treats in hand I plunked down on my favorite chair in the living room and put on the following ambience video (my absolute favorite!):

When the music started, I took out a notebook and my lucky purple pen. Then, between sips and bites, I attempted to answer the following questions:

• Am I happy at all? Yes, for the most part.
• Am I happy job-wise? Absolutely not.
• Do I really want to do daycare? On the fence. I would rather make money freelancing online or something.
• Are there any interests I have that could be worth pursuing? Yes.
• Is there a certain amount of money I need/want to be making? Yes.
• Am I happy with homeschooling my son and will I continue? Yes and yes.
• What is my biggest worry in life? COVID-19
• Do I like the way I look? No.
• Do I think my diet is overall good? Um, It could be better honestly.
• Am I engaging in physical exercise enough? Yes, but I could get a bit more steps in.
• Am I satisfied with the way my house looks? No.
• Am I engaging in my hobbies enough? No.
• Do I feel like I am a good person? Not all the time.

With these questions thought about and answered, I came up with this plan for myself going forward:

1. I will be pursuing my interest in web design and data analytics by taking free courses first.
2. I will be pushing my start date for daycare out for a while to think more about if I am going to do it or not.
3. I will continue to look into remote jobs even though it does not seem like I am qualified for anything.
4. I will be figuring out how I will handle the social aspect of my son’s learning for next year when he is in first grade.
5. I will continue to take proper COVID-19 precautions and hope for the best.
6. I do not know why I am back to thinking I am hideous again but I got here somehow. I will start doing daily affirmations and retrain my mind.
7. I will continue to do intermittent fasting and carb cycling.
8. I will start going for walks around my backyard while listening to true crime podcasts so I can get more steps in each day.
9. I will make sure to keep up on cleaning and make a plan to renovate the bathrooms when I have money coming in.
10. I love to read books but I have barely done any reading in a while. My plan is to read 2-4 books a month. I just started The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner and I am really digging it so far.
11. As far as not feeling like I am good person, daily affirmations is what I think will work. I also need to let go of feeling bad about the fact that we turn down family gatherings out of safety. Some family members are not happy about that but that does not make me a bad person. Hopefully they will understand eventually.

I concluded this life check-in with doing one of my hobbies…reading!

In conclusion, check in with yourself

Doing life check-ins are great for you and can even be considered a form of self care. They can help you get your life back on track or on a different track.

I really enjoyed my check-in and I think anyone reading this would like theirs as well.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have done a life check-in recently!

#life #selfcare #tranquility #mentalhealth #physicalhealth #ambience #youtube #goals #dailyaffirmations #positiveaffirmations