Challenge to what, you ask? Well that my friends is up to you!
I mentioned in my first post that it takes 21 days to form a habit. 21 days to make something stick and seem a little bit more natural in your day-to-day living. So, why not just do it for the full month instead, and see how you feel after?
I like to set challenges each month and push myself to see what I can accomplish, and in some cases, what results I’ll get. Back in August I did an inversion challenge, and now I’m addicted to being upside down. In September I did a #teaforbooze month, where I had no booze, and drank lots and lots of tea. Whenever I wanted a tasty alcoholic beverage, I’d reach for some kind of tea instead. This month, I’m doing a little bit of a hybrid challenge.
– do a Ugi workout every day
– #teaforbooze >> so no booze for this month
– no nachos (weird? Maybe… but I have a serious issue with wanting them all the time!)
So what is the point of these challenges?
I find them effective for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s an attainable goal. Saying you are going to give something up indefinitely (like never having nachos again!), or adding something to your lifestyle indefinitely (like working out every single day), you’re really just setting yourself up to fail. Forever is a longgggg time! So why start there? This is why picking a shorter time frame, like 30 days, is a perfect kick start to whatever healthy habit you are trying to build.
An example of this, is a year and half ago when my husband and I did a vegetarian challenge for 1 month. We thought it was going to be so hard, and thought we’d be itchin’ to get some meat in our bellies when the month was over. A year and a half later, and we haven’t looked back! We ended up feeling great, and getting used to our new lifestyle. This is the beauty of these mini challenges – they often do become second nature and we just don’t think about them anymore.
If I’ve got the wheels turning for you, and you’re considering it, a couple other ideas I’ve seen for a 30-day challenge are:
– yoga
– running (a girlfriend of mine recently did 5k a day)
– #riseandsweat – Get up early and sweat before work every day
– inversions
– no alcohol
– no sugar
– raw food
So whether you want to jump in with both feet and join me in the challenge that I’m doing this month, or go ahead and choose your own, I encourage you to try it! I promise you’ll be glad you did.
What other 30-day challenges have you completed? I’d love to hear about em!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Xxx
Andrea
*** Post originally written for UGI community page and can be found here ***