Monthly Challenge.
Can you believe that it’s almost December?!
Given that my November Challenge was a cumbersome undertaking, I thought that I’d take on an easier challenge for December.
Holiday time tends to make life a little more chaotic as well. Right?!
Commercialism tends to take so much away from the season that I’ve decided that my December Challenge will be:
30 Days of Gratitude
My original plan for December was to have 30 days of “random acts of kindness”. My thought wasn’t to have each day be some type of extravagant kindness, but more moments of telling somebody when I liked their shirt or haircut…you get the idea. Taking time to notice and stepping out of my comfort zone into being a conversation initiator.
I will likely incorporate this into my December Challenge, but it will be a secondary challenge for myself.
Why? you might be asking.
The problem for me came at the end when I would be talking about whether or not I accomplished the goal.
It felt like it would become a “Hey look at me being a decent human being. You know…the kind that I always should be.”
So while I will be incorporating throughout December, I will likely only address snippets of what I learned and likely not the kindnesses I offered.
That is how I came to decide that December would be focusing on the many things that I am grateful for.
To give me a specific daily goal, I did some digging around the Internet. I didn’t want to write out my own gratitude challenge since then I would already have thought of my response as I wrote it.
You can find the 30-day challenge that I’m opting to follow here.
The challenge was originally used on their blog for gratitude during the month of November.
I will be using the daily prompts as a focal point. I don’t know if I will use photos or words or a combination of both as I reflect on my gratitude.
If you are joining with me on 30 days of gratitude throughout December, be sure to let me know in the comments.
I’d love to have you along.
Sprinkle some random acts of kindness throughout the month as well. Words are free and they have the potential to change somebody’s day.
Let your light shine!
Amy
I’m there with you.
Awesome!
well I have been thinking about a December challenge too – and might join in with this on a day or two – (and the link you gave just goes to pinterest – could not really see the blog that used the challenge for november – just thought i’d let you know – unless you wanted it to go to pinterest?)
oh and I liked hearing about how these challenge help you get momentum towards your goals – such a good idea.
I hope you do join in on some of the days!
I did link it to Pinterest because that is where I will go for the daily prompts. I am using the words offered as jumping off points for my gratitude, not necessarily following the outline for the original challenge.
If you click on the Visit tab of the Pin, it will take you to the blog that details more about how they used the challenge. 🙂
ahhh – I see – that makes sense – and I must admit that Pintrest is not my fav place to be – I find it overwhelming at times – but it does have a large chunk of the internet and I can see that it is a rich resource….
I wanted to do a “wreath” theme for 25 days in december – inspired by an old blog friend who did one many years ago –
and maybe I can tie a few of those in.
I have a beautiful, empty journal just waiting for me to jot down those sweet moments of gratitude…my goal was to start writing on Dec. 01st…ideally, I would do this every evening after lighting a beeswax tealight – your lovely post is a timely reminder…I almost forgot about this goal until I read your words! I can hardly wait to follow you on your journey…
I love how you are incorporating it into a special moment with the lighting of the beeswax tealight. I may want to create some ritual around my process!
December 1st is coming soon…
I think it’s a great idea. I’ll add reflections on gratitude to my December posting schedule. Not every day but a couple of days a week.
Thank you. I won’t be posting daily about my gratitude either. More of a reflection at the end, with some possible posts about it over the course of the month. I’m pondering adding it to my Instagram story daily just so it keeps me accountable. 🙂
It’s a great idea. It’s raining in San Francisco tonight and tonight I have a safe, warm home. I am blessed.
Great idea. It’s so easy to get sucked down by the drama of everyday life.
It definitely is easy to get sucked into everyday life. I’ve tried a gratitude journal once. I think I lasted two days. I think focusing in smaller chunks will keep me dedicated.
One of my favorite bloggers left… or is on hiatus… but before she left, she mailed me a book about a year of gratitude following grief, so I’m into that about two months now. I love it.
I view kindness as necessary, and practice it lots, and encourage it. On days when I don’t feel kind, I then practice being kind to myself.
I have Pinterest, but in the way where I save a thing, do it, and unpin it. Very few boards, very few pins. Still, I wish you a month of deep gratitude <3
Thanks Joey. I think pausing to be grateful will be a good thing for me.
I’m glad that you are loving your gratitude book! I think it would be very helpful following grief…and at all times.
I have a tendency to keep to myself in public (probably an introverted thing). I’m hoping the goal of spreading more kindness will force me to branch out of that more often.
I still pin things that I’m interested in and hope that others enjoy them as well. I still haven’t had it really drive traffic to my blog, but I’m sure there are specific ways to go about that.
It might work for yours, because I do think you have a sorta brand. I don’t think it would do anything for my blog. I’ve been seeing some ads for an app that helps generate traffic, I bet they have all the answers.
So many great ideas here… gratitude, a wreath tie in, using Instagram… I need to process it all and come up with a plan to join as many of you as possible! 🙂
I hope you do! I’ve heard such amazing ideas that I may have to incorporate some of them into my process.
when I first read this, my reaction was ‘wow, this is going to be really hard’ – not because I thought you couldn’t be grateful everyday, but because the analytical side of me thought ‘how do you measure success on this one?’.
Then I read the comment by A Note to Huguette. I too loved her idea of the nightly ritual with a candle as she writes in her journal … that personal quiet time to reflect.
Best wishes for this new challenge.
I do love the idea of a nightly ritual. Success for me will be taking the time each day to document each daily concept, whether that be with a photo or with words or both. I often start daily journaling habits and then sooner rather than later I forget. I’m hoping that this will forge a habit! 🙂
Thank you for bringing this up! It really is some positive energy.
Thank you. I’m glad you liked it!