Political parties will often set out what they intend to do with their first 100 days if elected. 100 days of 2024 have now passed (it was day 100 on my 2024 photo a day project yesterday) so it’s a good point to look back on the past 100 days and forward to the rest of the year.

Despite best intentions at the start of the year, I’ve not yet got round to sharing my 2024 vision board or guiding force, two things I’ve been doing for the past few years as a part of being in the Mapping Your Path community. This felt like an appropriate moment to do that and see how things are going.

2024 is the year of BUTTERCUP:

I decided this year I wanted my focus to be about rebuilding the foundations of my life, something that got shaken up in 2020 when we went into lockdown and, like most people, my day to day life was changed quite dramatically. I’m a very different person to who I was back then. I don’t do a lot of things I used to do, my job means I spend far more time at home and less time physically with people, and I’ve rediscovered interests that I want to play a bigger part in my life. I’ve found the past couple of years hard, particularly 2023, and I wanted this year to be the year where I found myself feeling more settled in myself and how I want my life to be.

‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ by the Foundations (see how I got to buttercup?!) is a song me and an old uni friend still sing to each other. I can’t fully remember why but it’s something that has stuck after more than 20 years. In thinking about how I wanted 2024 to be, the words of the chorus resonated with me, not as a song about unrequited love between two people, but in relation to how I treat myself.

Why do you build me up (Build me up)
Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down? (Let me down)
And mess me around
And then, worst of all (Worst of all)
You never call, baby
When you say you will (Say you will)
But I love you still
I need you (I need you)
More than anyone, darling
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (Build me up)
Buttercup, don’t break my heart

Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations

As for my vision board, it’s far simpler and contains words more than visuals compared to last year’s vision board which was double sided. Perhaps a sign that I want to make my life simpler?

This is the first time I’ve looked at my vision board properly since I made it in late January. I have it on a shelf above my desk so I can see it peeking out behind things but I intentionally can’t see the whole board as I don’t want to force anything.

So, how is my year of BUTTERCUP going and does anything resonate from my vision board?

This year I’ve become a more active participant of two tribes that I’m actively making time for and prioritising in my life. In January I went on my first Brutal Day Out and am now a part of a small group of brutalist architecture fans who enjoy exploring and photographing these often dismissed and despised buildings. I joined my fellow Cheeky Stitchers recently having not seen them for nearly a year, and am looking forward to another crafting session with them this weekend. Both of these are reflect my preference for getting “to know people is through making things”.

The word ‘make’ appears a couple of times in different ways. I’ve always got craft projects on the go so in that way I’m always making. On the flip side, I’m not yet making enough time for books and whilst making new traditions is always on my mind there’s nothing I’ve focussed on implementing. I guess these things should come naturally though.

Gardens and plants have become more important in my life over the past few years and now it’s spring I’m looking forward to rejuvenating the small space I have for plants on my balcony. I’ve also continued to keep my house plants alive. They make me so happy and I’d happily fill the flat with more plants if only I could make the space.

I’m writing this during London Writers’s Salon’s writers’ hour and today’s words of wisdom made me think about how I’m spending my time and making priorities.

When we had the great Matthew McConaughey on the Daily Stoic podcast, he told us the story of how he found that balance for himself. At one point a few years ago, McConaughey realized he was doing too much. “I had five proverbial campfires on my desk,” he said. He had a production company, a music label, a foundation, his acting career, and his family. “What I did was I got rid of two of the campfires.” He called his lawyer and shut down the production company and the music label. “I was left with the three things that were most important to me. And those three campfires turned into bonfires. I majored in my majors. I got rid of two minors that I was trying to major in. I had been making C’s in everything, but when I got rid of five classes and concentrated on the three I really wanted, I started making A’s.”

Ryan Holiday, in The Daily Stoic, April 1, 2024

I often worry that I’ve got my finger in too many pies. Trying to do too many things and not doing any of them “well enough”. It’s the same at work where I have to juggle two very different sides of my job. As a perfectionist it’s hard to think I’m doing a bad job on anything, as I want everything to be done perfectly, but the words “right to roam” have reminded me it’s ok to try things. Roam rather than take a straightforward route and settle on only one thing. I’m an explorer and I have to try things that intrigue me.

I’m finding this 100 day project is helping me learn how to better communicate what’s in my head and is building trust in myself and what I have to say. I’ll never be a great writer (that’s not my intention) but sitting down to write every day is something that energises me. In fact all the creative challenges I do, some of which I have done for years, give me energy which is why I keep doing them.

There’s definitely some areas of BUTTERCUP that I want to focus more on – particularly when it comes to being unapologetic. I’m getting better at it, but I still find myself frequently apologising for my existence or having an opinion.

I keep commenting on how fast time is going this year (as if the past few years didn’t go fast enough!) and I often think I’ve not done enough with my time. When I spend time thinking back or flick through my photos though I realise that’s not true. 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty good year so far.