As I write this, we’re in the middle of a heatwave and my corner of the country is particularly hot. The air feels heavy, my cats are only happy on the concrete outdoor stairs and I’m writing this with a fan blowing full blast into my face.
Perfect timing for that nagging mid-year feeling – you know the one where you wonder what you’ve actually accomplished these past six months?
A new season is upon us – summer is HERE and here come the Half-Year reflections.
This seasonal awareness didn’t happen overnight for me.
Last year I got back into yoga after a long break. One thing all my favourite styles have in common is starting the class by centring us in the seasons and the natural world.
I love learning about moon cycles, Chinese meridians and seasonal flow on and off the mat. There are so many synergies between yoga, personal growth and development but that’s another article for another time.
Speaking of seasons…
Honouring the Seasons: Are You Having Enough Fun?
I’ve always been reasonably aware of the summer and winter solstice. As a Glastonbury Festival regular pre-kids, summer was always the one.
There’s something special about how the festival lines up with the longest day of the year – it’s like this perfect natural backdrop that makes all the chaos of huge crowds and megastars feel a bit more meaningful. A peak point in the year.
After a memorable pitstop with my best friend, Angela, at Castlerigg Stone Circle mid long-distance bike ride on the longest day of 2022, I now never miss a moment to mark the solstices, ideally outdoors. I love the opportunity to pause and reflect on where I am.
2022 was the year I proclaimed that my solstice wish was to have “more fun”.
We were sharing our hopes for the remainder of the year around the campfire on the eve of the summer solstice. It was heavy stuff – reclaiming identity after motherhood, setting boundaries amid difficult family relationships, embracing grief…
My simple desire to have more fun stood out and my friends haven’t let me forget it ever since!
When 21st June comes around, I ask myself if I’m living up to it. *Spoiler – Rarely. There’s always more fun to be had.
But how do you do it? How do you create more opportunities for levity?
I often create more fun by saying yes more often than no! The ‘no’s’ can creep in for boring adult reasons like “Who will look after the kids?”, “What will happen to my 8 hours of sleep?”, “Don’t I have more important things to do?”, and if I’m honest, “Can I really do this?!”
Saying yes has led to some brilliant highlights: gigs on weeknights, impromptu festivals, Tough Mudder in snowy April, family yoga and acrobatics, and extending that long-distance bike ride to fit in camping at Castlerigg Stone Circle.
Prioritising fun has also meant doing more of the simple things: reading for pleasure rather than self-improvement, spending more time with my favourite people, getting back to my northern roots and chatting to people in shops, watching Taskmaster (PG) with the kids and family bowling competitions on our Nintendo Wii.
Your reflection: How are you prioritising fun in your own life? What would saying “yes” more often look like for you?
My plans for the summer solstice went awry this year other than belting out Into the Mystic on a solo drive so I’m here in July, with a notepad, pen and laptop (and icy drink) reflecting on what’s happened so far and what’s to come.
Finding My Professional Rhythm
June has been significant professionally. The shift into my Investment Director role at Greater Cambridge Impact has been everything I hoped it would be – substantive work getting to grips with the investment pipeline whilst building the organisational culture from scratch with my colleague, Sara.
I’m particularly enjoying how all aspects of my career are weaving together more seamlessly now, creating a portfolio that feels coherent rather than scattered.
The month brought speaking opportunities that pushed me outside my comfort zone whilst connecting me with brilliant people working on similar challenges. There’s something special about being able to celebrate achievements across multiple organisations I’m connected to – watching projects and people I care about receive recognition reminds me why I choose to work in this space.
Your reflection: What would ‘professional coherence’ look like for you? Where are the disconnected pieces in your own career that could weave together more seamlessly?
This professional coherence feels like the natural outcome of intentional reflection I began in the depths of winter…
After Winter Must Come Spring… Reflection in Difficult Times
I started 2025 with a two day January retreat in Brighton reflecting on personal and professional growth with Lulu Minns and an inspiring group of women.
I arrived there worn out, struggling to shake off December’s fatigue and with a persistent cough/cold. I was itching for a new career challenge but the future looked uncertain.
After just one day, I felt totally different.
Lulu has designed what she calls The Genius Wheel™ – a 7-year personal growth cycle that combines ancient ideas with yogic and shamanic traditions to create your own personal guide to the seasons of life.
These have been my key realisations:
Fascinating patterns emerge when you reflect on pivotal career moments. A good question to ask is ‘What did 2018 (7 years ago) look like for you?’ What were the themes and lessons? How did that influence who you are today?
The most valuable reflection often happens when it’s uncomfortable. You’ve got to do the difficult thinking and experience the challenging times. Recognising that tough seasons pass has been powerful – as Lauryn Hill sings, “After winter must come spring”.
Regular thinking time away from the desk is essential. Making time to reflect on the prior six months has been difficult, just as it was in January, but it’s never regretted.
Your reflection: Can you identify patterns in your own 7-year cycles? What were your themes and lessons from 2018, and how do they connect to where you are now?
Finding Your Own Goal-Setting Rhythm
I was slow to create plans for 2025, perhaps knowing those two days were coming.
It took me a while to jot down my goals and looking back now, I wondered if I aimed high enough but then I remember, life is for living, not achieving goal after goal – I am a recovering perfectionist after all!
I set myself three specific goals in January to work on related to my career, my relationships and my health.
I write goals for clarity – to bring to life the ideas and themes I’m already working on. Those things that are already in the mix, maybe 75% of the way there, the ones that I want to get over the line. Sometimes committing them to paper might just do the trick.
Reflecting today reminded me of an idea I came across a couple of years ago in Harvard Business Review on the impact of framing on goal setting whilst planning for H2. I can’t remember the exact article but the idea has stuck with me.
A Goal-Setting Mindset Shift
Apparently, how we frame our goal actions affects our level of ambition and ultimately, our failure or success.
If we decide to forgo, rather than engage in goal consistent activity, it triggers self-critical emotions which pushes us to set more ambitious goals to feel better about ourselves.
Basically, your brain takes over and things get complicated.
Here’s how to simplify. If your old goals were:
- I’m going to the gym 5 days a week
- I’ll attend 3 monthly networking events out of 4
- I’ll eat healthy meals 6 days a week
Your new goals could be:
- My rest days are Tuesday & Thursday
- I’m going to miss 1 monthly networking event
- I’ll skip 3 healthy meals per week
I tried this myself with my nutrition goal. I reframed it and it instantly felt more doable and less like I was setting myself up to fail. Writing this has reminded me of other areas of my life I could use this in.
If I remember rightly, in a study of 2200 participants, people set goals that were c.13% higher on average – and we all know more ambitious goals lead to greater success. Pretty clever stuff!
Your reflection: How do you currently frame your goals? Could reframing them in terms of what you’re allowing yourself to skip or rest from make them feel more achievable?
When Is the Best Time of the Year for Goal-Setting?
Your reflection: When do you naturally feel most motivated to set goals? What time of year works best for your energy levels and circumstances?
The big ideas and plans are everywhere in January & September but what if those aren’t the best times to set goals.
As a working parent, I am not at my best in those two months; the ‘holiday’ fatigue is at an all-time high and the life admin is overwhelming.
My preference is regular revisiting and review, something that I do through my monthly reflection pages here. My approach is to answer these questions:
What I’ve achieved already this year
A quick whizz through the diary always reminds me of difficult conversations long forgotten and challenges overcome.
What I’d still like to do
1 minute of free writing and it’s all there on the page. I can sometimes giving myself a hard time for not committing my ideas to paper but there’s often no need. Some ideas are 5 weeks away, some are 5 years but it’s all in my head.
Questions for Your Own Reflection
Mid-year reflection matters because it helps you recognise progress that might otherwise get lost in the day-to-day momentum of life and work.
Take some time with these questions:
- What patterns can you spot in your career over the past 7 years? Look back to 2018 – what were the themes and how do they connect to where you are now?
- Where could you create more “professional coherence”? What disconnected pieces of your career could weave together more seamlessly?
- How could you reframe one of your current goals to focus on what you’re allowing yourself to skip rather than what you must achieve?
- What would “having more fun” look like in your specific situation? What small yes could you say this week?
- When in the year do you feel most energised to set goals and make changes? How could you work with your natural rhythms rather than against them?
And here are the questions I’ve been using for my own Half-Year reflection:
- What do I want to keep?
- What do I want to leave behind?
- What was my biggest aha moment?
- Who would I like to say thank you to?
And to check-in on wellbeing:
- How are my energy levels?
- What can I do to recharge?
What would it be useful for you to reflect on?
This is your reminder to do the same. A clear mind, a brew, pen and paper and go! I’m sure you’ve done plenty this year to be proud of.
Let me know what you learn in the process.
Picture of me, having a lot of FUN on that trip to Castle Rigg – trying and failing to make a floral wreath. I hope it reminds you as much as it reminds me that there’s always room for more fun in your life and that taking a moment to mark the shift in seasons is a joy.
Faye McDonough 
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