The challenges I gave myself are motivators for getting something done.
I decided March would be the month I challenged myself to do things I don't feel I do often enough. I've devoted at the least a few short minutes each day to complete four challenges I set for myself: Spring-Cleaning Challenge, Research Challenge, Art Challenge, and Gaming Challenge.
Quick Note
Since I treat this blog website as a public journal of sorts, each section below begins with a personal background about why I made my challenges for March.
If you're not interested in the personal background bits, you can skip to My Thoughts towards the end of this post where I summed up the challenges that I made for myself.
Spring-Cleaning Challenge
Over the years, I've collected a wide variety of things I don't use, display, or need. I once lived a life of simplicity with bare necessities. Now I've got piles of junk I need to clean out and get rid of.
When I lived on my own and first adopted Shadow, my now 14-year-old large rescue dog, my parents complained that I didn't have any furniture.
I simply had an old box TV on the floor for Shadow's entertainment when I was at work. I also had blankets for when we slept on the floor each night. I only earned enough money at my full-time job to barely pay the bills and care for Shadow's needs.
My parents and others started gifting me things they felt I needed. This included furniture, appliances, electronics, entertainment, decorations, and more.
Eventually, I moved to my current city and earned enough money to live well. I bought my first house as a single female in 2014! I was happy to have a lot of open space for Shadow and me to run around and play without running into a wall!
Like my first apartment with Shadow, I didn't buy anything other than new locks for the door. Money I could've spent on stuff went into savings instead. Once again, my parents and others started gifting me things they felt I needed.
Instead of re-gifting or donating the things I didn't need, want, or use, I kept it out of politeness, so they knew I kept and appreciated the gifts they presented me. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings when they visited my house and didn't see their gift in my house.
However, nobody's visited my house since I quit work and Dad moved in three years ago. (The savings I built were useful in my three years of unemployment.) Dad brought his hoarding collection with him when he moved in.
While Dad moving in was a great thing to happen since we're good friends and get along, his hoarding collection piled on top of my existing hoarding collection of stuff.
My house felt too cramped with crap. I wasn't motivated to do anything about it, before or after I quit work, because I suffered severe depression. I also suffered awful side effects from depression medication I took while I was still employed. Life was horrible and meaningless for about three years before I started highlighting something good in life daily.
Dad, having dealt with severe depression himself, devoted the past few years to help me get over my own depression, doubts, and self-hate. It took years, and I still have my moments where nothing I do in life feels like it's worthwhile, but I'm at least in a better mental position where I'm ready to focus more time and effort on myself and well-being.
The Spring-Cleaning Challenge actually started early last year when I realized it's time to do something about my displeasure with my house. I placed things into piles or in boxes and set it all aside. This included decorations, accessories, electronics, and more.
Anything I've searched for since I've considered are worth keeping. If I felt the need to dig through piles and boxes for something, it was something worth holding on to.
Yet, there's a lot of things in those piles and boxes I haven't touched. Chances are I don't remember what's in there.
This month, I've devoted at least 15 minutes each day moving the piles and boxes into my garage. My goal in the last half of the month is to separate the contents into one of the following categories:
Sell
Re-gift (I have old gifts I haven't opened or used)
Donate
Trash
I intended to start separating the contents sooner in the month, but the growing emptiness of my house is motivating me to reorganize the contents within. I found myself re-evaluating the spaces I've cleared out to better store the things I'm keeping.
I'm also now motivated to redecorate my master bedroom and bathroom. I've started researching design ideas, but I'll wait until I finally get rid of things before moving furniture around and painting the walls.
Research Challenge
When I quit work a few years ago, I was going to pursue a doctoral degree. I was accepted into my program of choice and set to start my online program in 2018. Due to miscommunication and lack of guidance, I decided to not pursue my doctoral degree at the time with that university.
Dad encouraged me to enjoy my "pre-retirement phase" as my prior co-workers joked about. He started buying me arts and crafts supplies I've never used before. This included my first Cricut machine, a wood burning starter kit, polymer clay, craft resin, and much more.
Since I had time to spare, I spent it researching and learning new things or improving my existing skills. It started with staying up to date with topics essential to my previous career field. Educational technology, like any technology in general, is always changing. I also completed certificates and certification programs.
Before long, I started researching arts and crafts related topics. It was helpful to familiarize myself with the basics before trying something new. This proved essential before trying resin crafting for the first time because there's a potential for things to go horribly wrong with that craft.
While I spent time researching and learning new things, I didn't do it daily. For the Research Challenge, I've devoted at least an hour each day to learn something new.
I'll usually watch one or several YouTube videos and make notes in a journal to reference later. Yesterday, I read online articles about a "slipped disc" since I'm worried my small dog, Rascal, may suffer from it.
In short, the Research Challenge is about continuous improvements and education. It sometimes feels like work. I sometimes need to remind myself to take time to have fun.
Art Challenge
One day last month, I watched videos on how to paint with gouache. I don't recall the YouTube creator's name, but he highly encouraged sketching and/or painting for a few minutes each day. He claimed sketching a few short minutes each day would make a significant improvement in building one's artistic skills.
While I do a lot of arts and crafts, I didn't do it daily. Again, it's hard for me to get motivated to do anything other than care for my dogs on the worst days. I often feel guilty doing something fun when I don't believe I'm deserving of it.
With my Art Challenge, I've challenged myself to sketch and paint a different Texas wildflower each day this month. After all, I believe my painting skills can use improvement. The challenge itself was inspired by my past participation in popular art challenges like Inktober.
I got the idea for my theme from one of my friends who said she loves bluebonnets and wildflowers. In fact, I painted a bluebonnet on March 1st since it's her absolute favorite. Next month I'll continue this Art Challenge based on my other friend's favorite Disney movies.
Unlike the previous two challenges, I didn't have a minimal time in mind to devote to this challenge. However, I've probably spent an average of 5 to 10 minutes on most of the flowers I've painted thus far.
When I take my Dad to a store, which has been frequent this past week as he searches for replacement parts to fix failing and broken things around my house, I always wait in the car with my dogs. This proved to be a great opportunity to complete a quick sketch and paint.
I bring a pencil, eraser, pen, and small travel watercolor kit with water brush when I know I'll be stationary in the car for at least a few minutes. If I were more confident in my sketching abilities, I could probably do without the pencil and eraser.
On the days when we don't drive anywhere, I take time to sketch and paint in bed at night. It's a good way to keep my mind from wandering off into negative thoughts before I sleep. It's also helping me avoid blue light before bedtime, which means no gaming on my cell phone before I sleep.
Gaming Challenge
Gaming is my favorite pastime. Dad introduced me to video games when I was young. He encouraged me to play video games to de-stress because life living with Mom was extraordinarily challenging and stressful.
Before I quit work, I didn't play any games. I was stressed and overwhelmed with work and family that I didn't take time to enjoy my life. Even after I quit work, depression made it difficult for me to find motivation to enjoy anything. It didn't feel worthwhile, and I didn't feel deserving of it.
The Gaming Challenge actually started last year when I bought my Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Last March, I questioned whether A Switch for One Game was worth the cost. When I caved in and bought the game, I decided to play daily for six months to feel alright about wasting money on a non-essential purchase.
I've played the game daily for nearly a year. I typically play for 5 minutes a day, but there are some days when I'll play this game for longer. While many players have expressed online that they're starting to get bored of the game, I still enjoy it because I only play for a few minutes a day. I've yet to get bored or achieve everything I wanted to do.
This month, I decided to devote at least a few minutes of gameplay each day for other video games I own. Games aren't cheap and I sometimes feel guilty when I don't play some of my more expensive games more often. This challenge will hopefully make me feel better about those game purchases. Of course, I'll have fun in the process.
My Thoughts
Making myself personal challenges for March is keeping me focused on anything other than negative thoughts. It's proven to be beneficial in different ways.
To recap, these are the personal challenges I've made for myself:
Spring-Cleaning Challenge. I started this challenge last year but placing things into piles and boxes. For the things I haven't searched for or used since then, I've devoted at least 15 minutes each day to separate those things into one of the following categories: sell, re-gift, donate, and trash.
Research Challenge. I've devoted at least an hour each day to learn something new. I'll watch a video or read an article about a topic of interest and make notes in a journal to reference later.
Art Challenge. I've sketched and painted a different Texas wildflower each day to improve my painting skill. Next month I'll do the same for a different Disney movie theme. This isn't that much different from Inktober if you've participated in that challenge.
Gaming Challenge. I'll spend at least a few minutes each day to play a different video game from my digital collection. Video games aren't cheap, so this will help me feel better about these non-essential purchases I've made in the past.
Looking back at the past fifteen days, I'd say I've spent an average of an hour and a half completing all challenges I've set for myself. Some of the challenges I do could be done simultaneously. For example, I could sketch and paint while listening to audio about a topic I've decided to research that day.
I encourage you to make your own personal challenges for a month. Depending on what you want to achieve, you may be able to devote a minimum of 5 minutes to complete a single daily challenge. Consider making one of those challenges something you enjoy as a daily stress relieving activity.
Oh, and if you don't complete your challenges daily, don't beat yourself up about it. There were a couple days when I celebrated Procrastination Week early (that's the excuse I'm sticking with) and didn't do most of my challenges.
Instead of declaring it a lost cause and giving up, I continued it another day when I was ready to do so. After all, these were challenges I set for myself, not things that had to be completed for work or school.
You can also plan to treat yourself at the end of the month after you completed x-number of challenges. Some people need a reward to motivate themselves to do something consistently for a long time. Personally, I'm happy after I've completed a daily challenge, especially on those tough days when I normally wouldn't have any motivation to do anything.
What's Next?
A YouTube creator, Discovering The Art of Living, challenged other artists that follow her to create art themed to hope. I've decided to take on that challenge since it's the month of challenges for me anyway. While she asked her viewers to upload their creations on Friday, March 19th, I'll upload my video on Thursday to stay consistent with my video upload schedule.
What personal challenges do you want to complete? Login and Sign up to share challenges you want to give yourself, or have given yourself, to spark motivation and positivity in your life.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam