A mid-year ritual for 2025

reflect. regroup. reset.

Hello, you.

June is coming to a close and that means we’re six months into 2025, with six months to go. Halfway. Hard to believe, I think.

Time has been moving so quickly. And, when the end of June comes around, I need to slow down and mark this moment. Because I believe that it means something. Paying attention. Marking time. Feeling the rhythms and shifts.

I’m a girl who loves a new beginning and a reset. So, this feels like the perfect time to pause to reflect, regroup, and reset.

A few years back I started a mid-year ritual that gives me the time and space I need to slow down and take stock as I cross the midpoint of the year. It’s a chance to look back on the first six months and ponder all that has happened. And, a chance to cast a vision forward into the next six months before they begin to unfold.

So, here are 12 reflective questions meant to help me pause and check in - with myself, with how this year is unfolding, and with the hopes and dreams I have for the next six months.

Normally I write my answers in my journal, but this year, I feel a call to just let all of my thoughts and feelings flow out onto my keyboard and into your mailbox or Substack.

Feel free to copy the questions and spend some time journaling on one or a few or all of them . Share them on your own Substack or social media. Or just keep it all to yourself. No matter what, I am certain that time and space will connect us all as we slow down during this most magical shift into the second half of the year.

Ok. Time to check in.

→ How do I feel at the moment? Right now.

Right now I feel a lot. I feel disappointed, hopeful, grateful, frustrated, worried, and excited. Just to name a few. We have moved out of our loft apartment in the industrial area of Norrköping, but we did not move directly into our 1920s co-op apartment in Stockholm. It wasn’t planned to be this way. We have some things to take care of in the apartment, so we are stuck in transition mode living in one room at my wife’s parent’s place (so grateful for them) with all of our stuff in their garage - for an undetermined amount of time. We will move to our new space. And it will be amazing. Life just had some other plans for us, so we are trying to stay sane, positive, and just roll with the punches.

→ When do I feel my life is the most meaningful?

Life is most meaningful when I feel that I have a purpose. When I feel grounded and connected, like I am living my most authentic, best, highest self. Slow and intentional. Honestly, I have felt deep meaning and purpose in my life lately, but I have also felt very much out of balance.

→ What do I need more of in my life?

Right now, discipline. I know that I need to make the time and space for the things that ground me. Even in the midst of transition and uncertainty, I need to return to those things that I know to be true. The calming clicking of the keys as I type out my thoughts and feelings. Long, quiet mornings of journaling and meditating before my day starts. Music, photography, words. The melancholic and mystical practice of living in rhythm with the lunar cycle. A deep trust and presence in hearing and heeding the messages of nature.

→ What makes me feel bad ass?

My work. Things are changing at work and my role is expanding. I am moving into a new era, a new phase, and a new focus in my professional life. It is so exciting and I am super proud of myself. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to grow and learn and explore new skills. My boss has truly given me so much support. And it, in turn, inspires me to work even harder. So, yeah. I’m feeling bad ass so far this year. And the next six month will be craaaazy I think.

→ What are my 3 most significant achievements in the past 6 months?

Buying an apartment in Stockholm in our dream neighborhood - Södermalm.

Selling and donating half of our belongings. Our apartment is half the size of the one we’ve been living in, so we are changing our whole liifeistyle - simplifying - and it feels amazing.

Expressing my needs and wants and wishes. Staying true to what I feel called to do professionally.

→ What area of my life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way I could simplify in that area?

I need to simplify my screen time. Not so much my phone or computer, but the tv/streaming services. Plus, the news. I want to be more analog in the second half of the year. I want to create, make, read, walk, explore. Bring things off of the screen and into real life.

→ What is my favorite song this year? Why?

I’m gonna have to say that Auld Lang Syne is still my favorite this year. It’s so nostalgic. I realize that it is a holiday-related song. But, I think of it as a lovely way to end each month. Looking back, giving thanks, feeling gratitude and nostalgia for all of the memories that have just been made and added to the stories of my life.

Also, as I have been writing this letter to you, I have also been creating a Moody Summer playlist. I don’t really know why. It just felt right. So, if you want to have a listen, you can find it here.

→ Who is someone that I admire? What qualities do I like about that person?

I think I am going to have to mention all of you Substackers. I know it seems so impersonal maybe, or a bit of a copout. But, truly, you all inspire me. I have definitely fallen off the Substack train these past two months. And that is ok. That is how life has been for me. But, I admire all of you who have so much going on, but still squeeze out time to write and connect. You amaze me. And deeply inspire me with your creativity and wisdom and deep care for creating community. Thank you so much for being here and for making a space that brings me such joy and hope in a very dark, difficult, and frightening world.

→ If I was in my 90s, what memories would I like to have? What stories do I want to tell?

Well, I love all of the memories I have gathered during my first 50 years of life. And, over the next 40 years, I want to add so many more. I want to sit in my rocking chair and tell stories of all kinds of people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited both near and far, the cultures that have taught me and expanded my world, the art I’ve collected and experienced, the words and books I’ve written, the activism I have engaged in, the love that I have felt, and hopefully the difference I have made in bringing a tiny bit of hope and inspiration to others.

→ What do I love to do for, or give to others (not an object – something from my personally)?

I love to create playlists. I love to take photos and write captions. I love to document my life as a way to connect with others in the midst of their life. And, more than anything, I love to inspire others to find their own voice, way, beliefs, hope, and joy.

→ What habit would I most like to establish in the next 6 months?

Writing regularly. Hands down. I don’t need a schedule. I don’t want one. But, I want to be consistent, even when life throws me off balance.

→ How do I want to be remembered in life?

When people think of me, I want them to smile. I want them to feel inspired to simply be who they are. And to remember me as someone who was calm and safe, but also I want them to remember my laugh, my love for documenting life through photos and words, and my belief in goodness and hope. I want to be remembered as someone who was present, slow, and intentional. A follower of the rhythms of the earth, and a believer in mystery, magic, and the divine spark in all of us.

And just like that, we’ve reached the midpoint of the year. Six months down. Six to go. Six months that have been filled with dreams realized and hopes dashed. Six months of hope and fear. Six months of life unfolding, seasons changing, the moon and sun and stars guiding us through the rhythms of it all.

And, now, we have six more months ahead. The journey is unknown, and yet, the path is there. Just waiting for us to explore, experience, and feel our way forward. Perhaps, as we move into the darker, slower, moodier half of the year, we will settle into a groove of trusting the unfolding of it all.

Keep dreaming, envision all that your soul whispers to you, and take it one day, one step at a time. Soak it all in. And let the stories of 2025 continue to be written.

Happy halfway, my friend. Blessings as you journey on.

xoxo. liz.

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