30 day challenge?
By diana on Jul 27, 2014 | In capricious bloviations
I love the idea of a 30-day challenge. Tracy came over to visit for a while last night, alone (Kermit, her husband, and Meredith, their adorable and absolutely beautiful 16-month-old daughter are out of town/state for the weekend). She borrowed our Vegan Planet because she's about to do a 30-day vegan challenge--not just to try it for a while, but in support of a friend who needs to do it, which I think are both wonderful, supportive ideas.
The idea popped back into my head tonight because Mich was wearing a teeshirt that announced a long-dead 90-day fitness challenge. It occurred to me that 90 days is a commitment, but 30 days? 30 days is a challenge. It's a small enough chunk that I can, I don't know...see it. It's not intimidating. It's doable.
And? It's just a wonderful idea. I made a Facebook status about it and Kalli posted this short TED video (linky), which just reinforced my urge to do a 30-day challenge.
The question, though, is what to do first? Michelle suggested doing yoga in the mornings for 30 days, an idea I quite like. Kasey (a friend of mine and colleague) loaned us a basic yoga tape a while back and we haven't gotten around to trying it. I want to start yoga for many reasons, not the least of which is that I keep hurting myself. And I'm sick of being injured all the time. The problem is, at the moment...I'm injured. :| So yoga isn't something I can start immediately.
I already am on a largely vegan diet without even trying to be--I have an apparent addiction to fruit smoothies--so going completely vegan for that period of time would be almost no change. It still isn't a bad idea, as far as these things go.
I've been working on my chess tactics regularly for some time now, so I don't really need a 30-day challenge to get into chess. It's a rewarding hobby, by the way. :) I'm a fan of solving puzzles, and have moderate success at it. It's a fun and relaxing thing to focus on (in the same way golf is relaxing, I suppose). Anyhow...I see no "30-day" goal there.
I could try doing blog posts every day for 30 days, but I frankly don't have that kind of time around the start of the semester. Unless...maybe I can make a point of finding something happy or uplifting or amusing to write about every day, even if the blog posts are short. That's an interesting idea. What think y'all?
I'm interested in other 30-day ideas you may have, as well. Your thoughts?
d
9 comments
Diana,
Uplifting or amusing? How about posting a joke a day? One you wrote yourself, not one you heard. (Or a funny or ironic situation you observed, because observational humor seems to pay well.) Humor, like writing, is a way to explore what makes humans human. (Disclosure: I have a stake in this because I’d like to see you post more.)
How about cooking? A new recipe or dish each day for 30 days? My fiancee was off work for 6 weeks a while back recovering from surgery and passed the time by trying out recipes that she’d wanted to try but never had the time. She learned a couple new favorites that are part of her repertoire now.
I think the yoga is a good idea, especially if you have someone to do it with. But until your leg heals up it’s probably too risky.
Dave
I’m going with the humor/uplifting/happy posts. It will be a challenge to me, as you know, and it will be a payoff in and of itself. I’m pretty sure the yoga will be next. :)
Fiancee?! :D Congratulations! (’Specially if she can cook!)
d
I spent most of the day yesterday writing a post about spanking–just my thoughts and feelings about it, along with the obvious caveats that I don’t have kids and thus cannot understand what it’s like, etc. It’s one of those subjects people lose their minds about (come to think of it, that may be what intrigues me most: how vociferously people will defend their right to beat their children*). By the end of it, I’d said much of what was on my mind and was beginning to make my case, but didn’t feel any better. (There are some things I probably shouldn’t think about and dwell on, and certain aspects of my childhood definitely fall into the “just leave it alone” pile.)
* Again, maybe this is something I’d understand if I did have my own, but for many reasons, not the least of which is “to see if I’d decide I needed to beat them,” I don’t.
Thus. My first 30-day experiment. :)
d
Diana,
Thank you, but it’s old news. I’ve been engaged for the past 7 years. Her name’s Linda. She’s commented here a few times. (And yes, she can cook!)
Good call on posting on the lighter side. There’s more than enough bad news on the internet.
Dave
Oh yes! I remember Linda!
OK then. Are you EVER going to marry her, then? Geez!
d
Diana,
I don’t multitask well. (I make computers do it for me.) She and I both have kids we’re trying to get moved out before we do.
Dave
Hope you have better luck with your daily posts than I did, when I decided to write a poem every day! By the end of the second week, I had started skipping days at a time.
But I know that you are more focussed on doing what you start out to do. So I will be checking you out, EVERY day - unless I’m not anywhere near my puter!
- Learn one new thing each day about a person/place/thing or in an area that you have an interest in.
Here’s another: Stick to the FDA’s guidelines for diet/serving size for a month. It’s a lot harder than most people think. After the first month, if you think you need to lose weight, cut your caloric intake by 500 calories–a whole other 30-day challenge.
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