This fall has been filled with 30-day challenges. From our Whole30 cleanse to setting an alarm at 9:00 each night for bedtime to this Write 31 Days challenge, I’m liking the benefits of these short-term, habit changers.
Setting a goal and sticking to it these days is a challenge in itself. There were many days this past month I wasn’t sure I’d have the time or patience or energy to write. I tried to keep about two days ahead in my posts, knowing that life would get in the way. Even with this buffer, half of the challenge happened during the tax extension deadline, leaving me alone with the girls a lot more. Add a week-long trip to visit Frank’s family to the mix, and I was reminded why I always declined to participate in this challenge in the past.
But when is there a perfect time? When am I going to have time every single day for an entire month to write in solitude and when creativity strikes at the right moment? Never. Like any challenge, there is no good time to begin. When we looked at the calendar for the Whole30, we realized that there would always be a reason not to do it – barbecues and holidays and family events happen all the time. So, we picked a start date and went for it.
That’s what I’ve learned most from these challenges – life continues to swirl around us, whether or not we’re committed to being intentional. The choice is creating space for the discipline of writing, of eating better, of going to bed early.
Creating a start and end date is human nature, I think. I’ve read quite a few books in the past few years about taking a set amount of time to live out experiments: 7 by Jen Hatmaker, A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans, Loving My Actual Life by Alexandra Kuykendall all take an overarching idea and set aside one-month intervals to complete an experiment. These books are successful because we recognize the need and benefit to setting short-term goals that result in life-changing practices.
Before starting this Write 31 Days challenge, I was in a slump here on the blog. For a couple years, I had faithfully been writing at least twice per week but over the summer, lethargy set in and I had trouble getting ideas pinned down. I’d write on the fly, I got lazy, and cycled back to “taking a break,” even though that break wasn’t intentional. This month of writing and the accountability of announcing that goal reset my creativity. Even though I won’t commit to writing every day, I hope to bring more intention to the days I do write. I want to stick to a schedule, to plan ahead, and to balance fun, intention, and the casual nature of blogging.
As for taking a month to really look at my strengths, I would highly recommend this. Whether or not you’re in the StrengthsFinder camp, take some time with your favorite personality test. Write out real-life stories of how you see these attributes at work in your own life. This month was a rediscovery into how I best function as a human being, and I’m glad I took the time to really delve into that. It’s been a good awareness reminder of all that I can offer to my communities.
One of my goals in November is to map out 2017 with habits and goals for myself. What are things I’d like to do better? (Laura Tremaine did this a few years ago. I may need to reread her series for inspiration.) You can pretty much do anything for 30 days and I’d like to start living a life of intention, of self-improvement, and of always-learning. Maybe creating life-giving habits is the habit I need to form most.
What are some habits you’d like to form? What are your thoughts on short-term goals?
Thank you for joining me on this month of self-discovery! I’ve so appreciated your comments, engagement, and encouragement!
This post is Day 31 of the Write 31 Day Challenge. I’m spending the month of October writing about the StrengthsFinder test. You can find the entire series over at Live Your Strengths page.
One of our family’s places to go and just breathe is Moab, Utah. The red rocks, the hiking, the dry climate (especially in spring, when it’s still temperate), and the fact that it’s relatively “undiscovered” makes it one of my favorite places to visit. When we’re hiking, we’ve come across petroglyphs and pictographs from the Pueblo and Navajo tribes that populated the area. These etchings are a reminder that people have inhabited this country for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
On Bea’s first day of preschool, she wore a shell necklace, given to her for her birthday. She wanted to look like Saoirse from 
Annie Rim 