So we’re going to be entering the next new moon phase tonight—which means there are five days left in September, and then ninety-two days left in 2022 (as of the upcoming Saturday). I’m hoping that the last quarter of 2022 goes smoothly—though I also know not to hold my breath on the turbidity of the upcoming weeks and months.

With the moon moving through the Libra constellation over the next day or two, there are various things that we can look at or work on over the next few weeks and they include:

1. Look at how you’re relating to other people (are you helping more than asking).
2. Look into your partnerships (any issues that need addressing?)
3. Negotiate–try to bring things into balance if needed
4. Look gorgeous–work on improving your self-image and self-love
5. Regain your identity–figure out how to resolve any unhealthy co-dependency issues if needed.

This is how I’m viewing the above ‘tasks’:

1. I’m trying to help/give value more than asking for help (especially on LinkedIn)—though there is also a time when we all need help, and should ask for it. I’m still in the mindset of semi self-isolation (the SARS-CoV2 virus is still around), therefore I’m really not around that many people (though that has changed a little over the past few months due to the ongoing family medical issue).
2. Well, I’m not in a relationship with anyone right now. In terms of family ‘partnerships’, I’d say that everything is about as ‘normal’ as they would be within the family
3. I can’t think of things with other people that need negotiating—I know that I probably need to negotiate quite a bit with myself
4. I’m slowly working on improving my self-care/self-love routines, plus how I see myself (self-image).
5. I’m also slowly working on trying to regain my identity—mainly from the negative thought patterns surrounding body image and my writing ability

The Libra new moon is also moving through my 12^th house—or my secret zone. This is the time/house when you really just want to retreat from the world and work things out for a while. In terms of self-care/self-love what are some of the things you could focus on during this time?

They include:

1. Practice yoga
2. Take a break from social media and/or numerous social obligations
3. Start a dream journal
4. Face one big fear
5. Trust your intuition
6. Buy a meditation CD and use it every day for a month
7. Write poetry from the heart
8. Share one of your secrets

So once again, this new moon is urging me to focus on finding a balance (or harmony) between social obligations and self-care/self-love. Since I’m still semi self-isolate, this will probably be fairly easy to handle. While I might have a monthly lunch meet-up with a friend, every other ‘obligation’ is usually via zoom or Google chat—and most of those are only for like a half-hour or so, the ones that are longer, are social chats.

I’m going to try to get back into a yoga routine–but I’m not going to add it to the goal list, as I’m wanting to try to keep it ‘short’–as the items on the list aren’t exactly ‘easy’ to accomplish.

The goals for the Libra New Moon include:

Unplugging at night (and possibly throughout the day):

This will help with time/project management. If I’m off the computer after a certain period (say 8pm)—I can either read (try to get back to reading nonfiction), or working on craft projects (cross-stitching or possibly creating some jewelry; or even doodling). Unplugging at night would also encourage me to reflect on the day, what I got accomplished and what I would like to try to get accomplished the next day.

Work at regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand:

While I’m working at resolving the unhealthy diet mindset that I held on to for too many years, I’ve also realized that I need to resolve how I see myself professionally (if I’m no longer a scientist at the bench—who am I?).

Facing a fear: getting the freelancing/consulting/remote business up and running

The savings account has pretty well dwindled down to almost nothing—so unless I want to be stuck at the bench—I need to get this ‘dream’ up and running. It is something that I have in my ‘risk and die’ zones on my comfort diagram—I figured it is risky trying to set up a part-time business, and an anxiety inducing dilemma trying to set up a full-time business. I’m going to try—the worse that comes of it, I keep it part-time, the best that can come of it—I manage to double (if not triple) what I was earning in academia within the first year of doing freelance writing.

The motto for the last quarter of the year is going to be ‘progress over perfection’. I know that the last quarter of 2022 isn’t going to be an easy one—therefore, I need to make sure that I’m unplugging often enough that I can reflect on the day and/or week and readjust the upcoming schedule as needed.

What is something you’ve always wanted to try to do, but haven’t done yet?