The month of June had a lot of things happening: we went on holiday, and then had a heavy weekend and couple of weeks of events after returning, it was nice after things calmed down to just relax and actually sit down and breathe a little. Sometimes it can be hard to say no, sometimes you think you are up to do something or go somewhere but when the time comes round you’re actually really tired or exhausted. These days I try really hard not to be around people who drain me and instead surround myself with those who uplift me and my spirits. Sometimes it can be difficult to bring your A game, and sometimes things take a little time to fall into place.

This month has been very busy, and it marks the halfway point in the calendar year and has made me aware that I haven’t done nearly as much as I wanted to accomplish. But then when I read back on my daily gratitude entries it reminds me that it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters. That although I may not have produced physical results, for example I wanted to improve my ukulele abilities, it doesn’t matter and that when I do what I do I enjoy it. I still love playing the ukulele, even if I’m not all that great at it.

So, here is June’s entries:

1 Start of holiday and some lovely sunshine: getting there wasn’t too bad, a lot of walking done today.

2 Guernsey: friendly staff and people everywhere, we visited the tourist information centre, Castle Cornet, and Victor Hugo’s house – everyone is so nice and friendly. Also grateful for dogs, they are everywhere here, wagging their tales, barking at their friends, seems like such a peaceful island.

3 Hubby: grateful for hubby for a wonderful relaxing day, watched a great film (Adult Life Skills), had a lovely chilled evening.

4 Bruges: grateful for coach facilities taking us to the centre today, also grateful for a lovely lady giving us student discount even though we said we weren’t students, friendly staff providing us lunch and chocolates and macaroons. Everyone in Bruges is so lovely.

5 Rotterdam: grateful for the coach taking us to and from the centre and having a mini coach tour in the process and for friendly staff members all around this city.

6 Grateful for many people today: hubby for looking after me when I felt really ill today, our cabin staff member for helping us out all week (this was the first time we met), another cruise staff member for teaching us archery (it was so fun), and live band for a brilliant performance (they were really entertaining).

7 Cruise staff: grateful for people on board providing entertainment for the last sea day, it was rainy so almost everyone was inside. Grateful for the entertainment acts too, live bands playing while the ship is moving seems difficult. Grateful for ABBA making great songs that are brilliant for tribute bands to play.

8 Grateful to be back home, on land. Also grateful to have connectivity again, it wasn’t too bad living without wifi and data for a week, now I’m back home notifications on my phone keep going off so it’s nice to be back and connected with the world again.

9 Storytelling: back home and watching an Amazon one off series adapted from a book (Good Omens), and it is both hilarious and interesting how this story has taken known characters and stereotypes and turned it into something magical. After watching this I need to read the actual book this has been adapted from.

10 Routine: grateful to be back at work and getting back into a routine again.

11 A few things today, all somehow work related: beautiful roses on the walk to work this morning, very informative lunch and learn, with a yummy free lunch.

12 Paintings and pictures: did a little rearranging at home tonight and hubby put up a couple of Van Gogh printed paintings we got from holiday a couple of months ago and put up a couple of wedding pictures too. Grateful for the hubby thinking about this rearranging and grateful that we bought the printed paintings and took the wedding pictures to remind us of these memories.

13 Dogs: I accidentally left my glasses at home this morning, realised, and then went back to get them. This meant I walked through the same park three times: the same park where adorable fluffy dogs are walking, sniffing, digging, running, barking, and playing with each other. It was the best. I don’t have another dog yet, so I’m grateful to be able to dog watch.

14 Celebrating exam passes: we went out for lunch time drinks today to celebrate a colleague’s exam passes. Grateful to be working at a place that recognises hard work and passing exams. Also grateful for the free drink.

15 Friends: visiting friends and catching up and eating lovely home cooked food, grateful for the time and effort everyone has put in today.

16 Being human: after finishing watching Good Omens it’s got a nice message, and grateful that we’re all just human.

17 Sun: grateful to get a little sunshine and warmth today at lunch, on my walk home, and in the evening; lovely opening a window to get a little breeze. Maybe we will get a little summer after all.

18 Catching up: had dinner with an old friend who I hadn’t seen in 5 years, catching up, talking about life, having a proper deep conversation. Grateful to this friend for reminiscing, discussing past hopes, current dreams, how we’ve grown and developed over the years, and how it’s ok to not have a defined path to follow.

19 Music: grateful for some epic tunes making chores go by so breezily.

20 Networking: attended a networking event and met some lovely interesting people, learning about experiences of multiple career changes, it’s amazing the routes some people go through.

21 Colleagues: grateful for a colleague introducing a new lunch place to try out, and grateful for another colleague sitting with me in this new snazzy place and explaining to me the wonders of online supermarket shopping which I will have to try out.

22 Many things: comedy, plays, theatre, word play. Saw a hilarious play, literally called The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, with some amazing sets and a great cast who can all sing really well. Grateful to be able to see such a brilliant production in a beautiful theatre. Laughed my head off.

23 Internet: grateful to have such resources at my disposal as I’m trying to figure something out that I’ve not done before.

24 Work: brilliant networking event in a massive marquee, with fire eaters, meeting new people, playing on casino tables, and learning how to play Sicbo.

25 Hubby: grateful that he is working through things and figuring things out and makes me aware of how much I’ve grown since joining the working world, dealing with people below you, and managers above you.

26 Connectivity: grateful to be able to keep in touch with people I hadn’t spoken to in years and reconnect and reminisce.

27 Sleep: grateful to be able to recharge and relax.

28 Friends and food: grateful to have good friends and grateful to catch up and talk to them over lovely meals. Also grateful to one friend for giving me a cool mug, which I completely forgot she had gotten me months ago but we just hadn’t seen each other.

29 Grateful for the sun to show up, even though it was swelteringly hot. Grateful for air conditioning and the places who have them for the comfort of guests eg trains. Grateful for family as we had a nice lunch together.

30 Medicine: had an epic rash that had bruising and swelling alongside it, which has now faded and reduced in swelling. Grateful for the doctor who saw me, grateful for the pills reducing the pain, and hopefully the itch will go soon too.