Halfway There – Time to Pause and Look Back
There’s something about the turning of winter that invites this kind of reflection. The days are shorter here in Tasmania, the mornings are wrapped in fog, and my instinct is to pull inward – to sit with a hot drink, open the planner, and ask: how’s it actually going?
Six months into 2026. Half the year behind us, half ahead. This is the moment I’ve been quietly dreading and deeply looking forward to in equal measure – the planner mid-year review.
If you followed along with my Planner Set-up 2026 series, you’ll know that I put real care into building a system that was intentional, flexible, and aligned with where I wanted to go this year. Now it’s time to see how that landed – what’s worked, what’s quietly gathered dust, and what needs a reset before we step into the second half.
This isn’t about judgement. It’s about honesty, curiosity, and course-correcting with kindness.
📖 Looking Back at the First Half
Before I dive into each section of my planner, I like to do a quick pulse-check on the year so far. Nothing formal – just sitting with the pages and asking a few questions.
How I feel when I open this planner: Happy, mostly. It took a few tweaks to land on a weekly layout that actually works for me — but now that I have, opening it feels less like a chore and more like a tool that’s on my side.
The year so far: Busy, but in a good way. Challenging in the way that stretches you rather than wears you down. The thing that’s loomed largest has been my father-in-law’s health — the kind of unexpected turn that reshuffles your priorities and remind you what really matters. Alongside that, a quiet win I’m proud of: I qualified as a development level hockey coach. And in a twist I didn’t see coming at the start of the year, my own playing plans have moved up — it looks like I’ll be taking to the field a full season earlier than expected. Excited and nervous in equal measure, but what I’m really looking forward to is playing alongside my eldest. Not a bad way for a “this didn’t go to plan” to turn out.
For me, 2026 so far has been a year of changes. Not everything has gone to plan – and that’s okay. The planner is a tool for living, not a report card.
🎯 Goals Check-In
Back in January, I set goals across seven areas: Physical Health, Mental Health, Home, Family, Personal Development, Creative, and Spiritual – you can see how I set those up in Part 3 of my Planner Setup Series.
You can read my honest assessment of where I’m sitting with each over on the post – Goal Check In
✨ 26 Things in 2026 – Progress Update
This has to be my favourite page to revisit at mid-year. Back in January, I filled in my 26 Things in 2026 list with little adventures, habits, and joys I wanted to collect – not to achieve, but to experience.
I’ve managed to cross 7 things off the list as complete and 4 are year long things that I mostly keeping up with. As for those that are left – well there’s still 6 months left in the year.
This list was never meant to be a pressure cooker. If some of those 26 things don’t feel right any more, it’s perfectly fine to release them and replace them with something that does. The spirit of the list is about intention and joy – not performance.
🌿 Quarterly Pages – Mid-Year Reset
When I set up my planner, I included quarterly pages between my Yearly and Monthly sections – a structure I was really excited about. The End of Quarter Brain Dump and Reset Week were designed for exactly this kind of moment.
So this week, I’m treating it as my mid-year Reset Week.
What that looks like for me:
- A long look at the yearly overview and any key dates still to come
- Clearing my brain of clutter with the End of Quarter Brain Dump pages – getting all the mental clutter out.
- Undertaking the End of Quarter Reset week in the areas of Personal self, Mental health, Home & Digital spaces.
- Writing myself a new Monthly Pep Talk for July
- Pulling updated Quarterly Goals for Q3 from my Master Goals List
My goals for this upcoming quarter include more walking, exploring some sensory regulation tools, continuing our decluttering, investigate what I can grow over winter/sow now for spring, get out for a family day trip, read another book or two and continue to give myself creative time.
🌕 Witchy Things – Seasonal Alignment
For me, no planner review would be complete without a look at the Wheel of the Year.
We’ve just celebrated Yule – the winter solstice here in the southern hemisphere. It’s the deepest, darkest point of the year – and one of the most potent times for stillness, inner reflection, and setting intentions for the light that returns.
Looking back at my Witchy Things spread, which holds my moon phases, Sabbat dates, and yearly tarot card, I find myself thinking about how the year’s themes have woven through everything.
The card I drew: The Empress. Her theme — nurturing, growth, abundance, care — has played out more literally than I expected. So much of this year has been about tending to others: supporting my partner & mother in law through my father-in-law’s health challenges, growing into my role as a coach, and now preparing to play alongside my eldest. The Empress doesn’t rush things; she lets them ripen. Looking back, the plans that changed didn’t fail — they grew into something better, in their own time.
What I released at Yule: expectations. I set down the need to have everything go to plan and chose to be more adaptable to change instead. It turned out to be the right thing to let go of — almost everything good this year came from staying open rather than holding the line. Care and patience aren’t passive; neither is letting go.
In my Sabbat Reflections spread – a new addition I was really looking forward to this year – I wanted to make sure I’m noting each seasonal turning and what I’m moving through at the time. This is the perfect moment to go back and fill in those reflections, even retrospectively.
📚 Miscellaneous Section – Lists Check-In
A quick and often cheering stop: the TBR list, the 2026 Bookshelf Tracker, and my Shows & Movies to Watch list.
So far this year I’ve started 12 books – one has been added to the DNF (did not finish) list, one I’m still reading & 10 are finished. I got all my cover stickers done and ready to print out.
I always find that checking these pages gives me a little burst of satisfaction – it’s easy to forget how much we’ve actually consumed and experienced when we’re focused on the goals we haven’t hit yet.
✂️ Physical Planner Changes – What I’m Adding and Removing
Part of a mid-year review in a binder-style planner is the practical, hands-on work of updating the physical set-up. This is actually one of my favourite parts.
Pages I’m removing or archiving: all my Q1 & Q2 pages will be removed and archived at the end of June.
Pages I’m adding: Q3 and Q4 pages as well as my July set-up. (I may decide to have a full planner day and set up August & September as well)
Adjustments to layout or tools: Not sure if I’ll change me weekly layout up or not. I really like where I’ve gotten it too. That’s not to say I won’t change it up later in the year.
My A5 Melody Planner has been such a joy to use this year – the flexibility of the ring-binder format means this kind of mid-year refresh is completely frictionless.
🔭 Setting Intentions for the Next 6 Months
The second half of 2026 holds July through December – which means we have the deep quiet of mid-winter still settling, followed by the gradual brightening of spring, and then the full energy of summer and a new year on the horizon.
That’s actually a beautiful arc to plan within.
Some questions I’m sitting with as I look ahead:
- What do I most want to feel by December?
- Which one or two goals deserve the most focus in the second half?
- What am I releasing that’s been weighing on me?
- What new thing – one small thing – do I want to begin?
What do I most want to feel by December?
Refreshed and ready. Not “caught up.” Not “productive.” Refreshed and ready.
I’m starting a new degree in 2027 and I want to walk into that — and into the new year — feeling like I have capacity. Like I’m not dragging a backpack full of unfinished things behind me. That’s the feeling I’m orienting the rest of this year around.
Which goals deserve the most focus in the second half?
After a lot of honest reflection, I came back to three:
- The veggie garden. I’ve started small — growing in pots — but I really want to expand it this year. It gets me outside, connected to the seasons, eating well, and hopefully saving a little money too. It’s one of those things that feeds me in more ways than one.
- Weekly craft time. I’m already managing to carve out small pockets of time for this and I love it. My focus for the second half is protecting that time and creating space for some longer sessions. Making things is part of who I am — it deserves a proper place in my week.
- Celebrating the Wheel of the Year. Even if it’s something small for each turning point, I want to be more intentional about marking the seasons. It keeps me grounded and connected to something bigger than my to-do list.
These three feel right. They’re already alive — I just need to tend them.
What am I releasing that’s been weighing on me?
The habit of saying yes to too many things.
I set a lot of goals at the start of this year, and somewhere along the way I had to admit that not all of them were really mine. They felt right in January, but they don’t fit my actual life. The book goal is the most honest example — as much as I want to read one or two books a month, unless I’m listening to audio books, it’s simply not happening. And that’s okay. That’s information, not failure.
I’m releasing the over-commitment. I’m releasing the idea that a long list of goals means a full, meaningful life. And I’m releasing the dreams that looked good on paper but kept getting quietly pushed aside — because that quiet resistance is worth listening to.
What one small new thing do I want to begin?
Journal reflections tied to the Wheel of the Year. Each celebration, I want to pause and write — look back at what’s shifted, what’s grown, what I’m ready to move on from. Eight times a year, a small ritual of reflection. It feels like the perfect companion to how I want to live the second half of this year: intentionally, seasonally, and with a little more spaciousness than before.
🌙 A Note on Imperfect Planning
Here’s the thing about a mid-year review that took me years to really understand: the purpose isn’t to hold yourself accountable to your January self. That person had different information, different energy, different circumstances. The purpose is to reconnect with why you’re planning in the first place.
For me, this planner exists to help me feel grounded, creative, and intentional. If it’s doing that – even imperfectly, even with missed weeks and half-completed pages – then it’s working.
This review is simply a moment to ask: what would help even more?
And then go do that.
🔗 Planner Setup 2026 Series
If you’re new here and want to see how I set this planner up at the start of the year, the full series is here:
I’d love to hear where you’re sitting at mid-year. Are you doing a planner review too? What’s working, and what are you letting go of? Leave a comment below – I always love hearing how others navigate this.
