Starting a 30 Day Challenge

Hey friends! Have you heard of the 30 Day Challenge?

As the summer comes to a close, there are a lot of things that start to change. With the colder temperatures, it becomes less appealing to spend lots of time outside. Many jobs get busy with the end of the year approaching and deadlines to meet. And not to mention, those of us in school are busy with classes and activities that keep us occupied.

Despite all those busy things going on, it is so important to continue taking care of yourself through these transitions. It is so easy for our routines to get put on the back burner and also for us to lose motivation in hobbies that don’t correlate to our jobs, school, or what have you.

That is why this month is the best time to start a 30 day challenge.

But what is a 30 day challenge?

During a 30 day challenge, you are committing yourself to doing something every day that makes you a better person or helps you reach a goal you have.

Look at your life now and think about what you might want to make different. Do you want to be more active or stronger, better at a sport or instrument, or even make more progress toward a goal you have already been working on? A 30 day challenge could help you accomplish any of these.

Dedicating 30 minutes to an hour each day will make a huge difference and impact toward reaching your goal. As some added structure for a 30 day challenge, you can set milestones for yourself along the way. This might make it easier for you to plan out where you want to be 30 days from now.

So how could September possibly be the best time to start?

1: Labor Day
Starting a month with a holiday means that there is potentially more free time and a better excuse to work on yourself rather than school or your job (in most scenarios). When trying a 30 day challenge, the hardest part is starting. With the first two days of the month being a long weekend, it makes it harder to say no to starting.
2: 30 Day Month
30 day challenge, 30 day month. Committing to a challenge for a full month guarantees that you’re spending 4 weeks working toward making this a habit and building it into your regular routine
3: Weather
September weather is a transitional period between summer and fall. Taking care of your health during colder months is so important since so many people are deterred by the cold weather and we just want to snuggle up inside. I know I personally have found myself sort of shutting down in the colder months because I don’t want to go out in the cold if I don’t have to. Starting a challenge as the weather changes can help push through that transition and make it easy for that habit/activity to stay in our regular routines.

So, what 30 day challenge are you going to start?

For me, I want to be more mindful and have a clearer head space. So everyday for this next month, I am going to do some form of writing. Whether this is writing to work toward the blog or journaling privately, etc., writing has always been helpful for me to clear my mind and head space.

When I write before bed especially, I am able to sleep more peacefully with most if not all of my stressful thoughts written out and put away for the evening. This allows me to wake up feeling well rested and get a head start on the day.

Keeping track of progress

Throughout the 30 day challenge, it is important to take note of how working on this challenge affects your mood, appetite, sleep, and motivation. This is another one of those times where I am recommending journaling your progress. If you have a daily journal to write down how your progress in your challenge is affecting you, you will be more likely to continue and make more progress.

Halfway through, I highly recommend looking back at the difference between yourself at the start and halfway through and then again at the end comparing yourself at the start and end of the challenge. If you have a tangible way to see how you have changed as a person, it will be better motivation for you to continue these habits past September.

I wish you the best of luck on your 30 day challenge. Feel free to share what you’re going to work on!

TTFN