Mending Hours #1: What I Want to Hold (July & Beyond)

[dustandhoney]

 The prompt said: “Light up your journal with activity this month.”

But honestly? I’m more interested in the kind of light that glows — not burns.

There’s a kind of pressure in goals sometimes. Even soft ones can start to feel like weights if I hold them too tightly. So instead, I’m thinking about what I want to hold gently for the second half of this year. What I want to tend, not fix. What I want to notice more of.

Here’s what I’m planting for July and beyond:

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🌱 Goals, sort of:

• Read slowly and without shame. I’m always halfway through too many books. I want to let that be a joy, not a failure of focus.

• Make something imperfect every week. A poem. A stitched patch. A loaf of bread that rises unevenly. I want my hands to stay in motion, not for output, but for comfort.

• Reach out. I wrote a letter in May that I never sent. I want to send it. Or maybe write a new one. Or maybe just text someone I miss you. That counts.

• Reclaim rest. I still catch myself only resting when I “deserve” it — after work, after cleaning, after ticking things off. But the truth is, my body and brain don’t run on tasks. They run on softness. I’m allowed to stop just because I’m tired.

• Learn how to ask for help. This one’s written in pencil. It scares me a little. But I think it belongs here.

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☁️ The Moodboard in My Head:

• Long evenings, bare feet on floorboards, soft folk music from the other room

• Crows in the hedgerows, carrying stories

• The smell of sun-warmed books

• The quiet clink of a teacup and someone who stays beside you even when no one’s speaking

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What do I want from the rest of 2025?

Less fire.
More embers.
More candlelight and cool wind and moths at the window.
More moments that don’t need to be recorded to be remembered.

Maybe that’s the goal, really:
To be here. Fully. Softly. As I am.

What are you holding onto this month?