Full disclosure: I’ve signed up for this challenge at least five times, and I have never made it past day four. Why? Because challenges are easy to sign up for, and easy to forget about/not take seriously/stroll away from. Which is totally fine.
This year, though, I’m adopting a different stance towards New Year’s challenges. I’ve signed up for various Wellness challenges, including the New York Times 6-day Energy Challenge (not sure what this means, but what the hey), and the Washington Post 5-day Tuneup (does this mean I have to improve faster?) I’ll be reporting back on what transpired (and didn’t).
I’m also signed up for the 2024 Yoga with Adriene 30-day Flow Challenge. You may be wondering: if I’ve never made it very far into the challenge, why sign up this year? Here are some of my reasons:
First, my 2024 word is Collective, which means that I’m noting and acting on the fact that I get a lot of enjoyment (and accomplishment, too) from moving as part of a group. Several of the FIFI bloggers have done this challenge for several years now, and I’m joining them intentionally. Note: joining doesn’t mean forcing myself to perform in the same way; to me it means being part of the crowd, doing parts of the challenge in my way and sharing in the experience with them (albeit virtually).
Second, I’m taking a page out of Samantha’s exercise playbook: she’s often written about how she’ll create an aspirational activity list, and will do as many of the items on her list as her schedule and energy and life allow. I’m going to try this. It feels to me like commitment lite, involving planning and acknowledging that it’s important, but not adopting a do-or-die attitude towards any particular activity.
Third, I admit it: I really love official reset occasions. Several of us who are academics have written about our love of bright shiny new school years. So we get two New Years: one in September and one in January. Yay! I’m going to ride the renewal wave and see how far it takes me.
Finally, I’ve learned a lot about commitment and challenges and the value of restarts and pushing through from my meditation practice. I’ve been sitting almost every day for 3+ years now, and keeping track of my meditation sessions with my Ten Percent Happier app. I’ve experienced stretches of up to 150 days (once), and also have reset 48 times (I know this because it shows 48 three-day streaks). As of today, I’m on a 62-day streak. Will I miss a day in future? Absolutely. What will I do then? Restart and keep going, of course…
So bring on the 2024 challenges– I’m curious to try them out.
Wanna join us? We’d love to hear from you.
