What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

So where do I begin with this one?

My biggest challenges over the next few months are fourfold and can be summed up with the following words: work, wedding, exercise, and finances.

Work

My work is something that I very much enjoy. My career is something that I can honestly say that I am able to go home and feel as though I really accomplished something. My job enables me to make a difference in the lives of people in my community. While there are these obvious benefits, there are challenges to say the least.

One of those challenges is one of seasonality. My job generally goes through months of extreme business mixed with periods where I feel as though I’m watching paint dry. Currently, I am careening into the depths of this busy season with no relief in sight for the next four months.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, this period which is normally extremely busy is now going to be kicked up more than a few notches. The next four months are going to be extremely stressful to say the least. While I want to turn away and shut down, given the nature of my work and my role, I cannot. I’m instead working to buckle down and get through it in the best way possible. In order to manage my stress levels, I am to make sure I am getting adequate sleep, stay as healthy as possible, and take a little time out in every day for me. While I’ll still be stressed, this will hopefully help.

Wedding

Starting mid next month, I am officially down to the six-month mark. While a good chunk of my wedding is planned at this point, there’s still many finishing touches to be made and multiple personalities of family and friends to still juggle. Of course, when all this needs to happen, I am going to be involved in my busiest time ever at work. But alas what can I do.

While I want to kind of freak out about all this. I really don’t have time to. So instead, I am becoming the queen of my list and delegating. For me, it’s normally really difficult to want to let go and let others help me. Call it whatever you may want, but I have trouble relying on people. While it’s hard for me to want to ask for help, I’m in a position where I need to. Luckily, those around me are being more supportive and asking to help.

Exercise

Exercise has always been important to me and my overall wellbeing and mental health. I feel my best when I can get in a hard workout during the week. While my runs have been hard to do as frequently in the winter, now that it is starting to warm up and it’ll take longer for the sun to go down at night, I’ll have more opportunities to get a good run in. This will be important because I’m also trying to work towards being able to run a marathon. This has been a long-term goal of mine and I’m happy to finally see it begin to take action. While part of my reasons for wanting to work out more are to help with overall health, wellness, and fitness goals, part of it is also that my wedding is upcoming, and I want to look and feel my absolute best on the big day when all eyes will be on me.

Finances

Finances are not something that I generally love to talk about. Growing up, I was never really taught what healthy finances involved and how to budget. This is a lesson that I’ve had to learn over time as I moved into adulthood. While I have taken steps to budget and am making progress in my goals, I’m looking to kick it up a notch before the wedding. My partner and I want to be able to hopefully purchase a home in the next two years and are also largely self-funding our upcoming nuptials. As such, I’m working to buckle down and stick to a strict budget to set myself up for financial success in the near future. I’m also actively looking to find new ways to increase my earning potential to help further meet my goals.

All these things together make for a difficult challenge, but I am up for it. I’ve never been a quitter. While I know it’ll be stressful, I know I can handle it. Besides, the prospect of a reward, ie my upcoming wedding and honeymoon will make it worth it.

Now that I went on for way too long, about my upcoming challenges, tell me more about yours. What do you have going on in your life? Do you have any recommendations for me? Let me know below!