To help get us out of our comfort zones and maybe doing some new — or just out-of-the-routine — things, I’m going to try a new feature this year. Based on what holidays are occurring each month, I’m going to challenge you, my readers, to take certain actions (in essence, to celebrate certain holidays). (I’m challenging myself here, too!)
In addition, I will point out when I see particular holidays that lend themselves well to serving as reminders for goals some of us may have set for the year (so maybe those are good months/weeks to focus on those particular goals).
This is for fun! It would be nice if we could all participate to some degree, but I don’t expect anyone to complete every single challenge every single month, either. 😉 Choose whatever appeals to you. I’ll mention which days the holidays occur, “just ’cause,” but you can complete the challenges any time during the month.
(For that matter, you could complete it months later. If it gets you doing something edifying or fun or whatever, that’s ultimately the point, regardless of when you do it.)
In the future, I’ll post these right before the beginning of the month, so you can prepare, if necessary. This time, I hadn’t thought of this yet, so it’s a tad late.
Anyway, without further ado, for January, here are the challenges:
- Write a real, on-paper, snail-mail letter. (Universal Letter-Writing Week, 8-14)
- Do something small that will spread joy. (National Joy Germ Day, 8 )
- Find one way to cut back on your home’s energy bill. (National Cut Your Energy Costs Day, 10)
- Clean off your desk. (National Clean Off Your Desk Day, 10)
- Be sure to hug your children. And/or hug someone (appropriate!) you don’t hug often. (National Hugging Day, 21)
- Pay someone a compliment. (National Compliment Day, 24)
And some good goals to work on this month, if they’re on your list:
- Organizational Tasks (National Get Organized Month; Organize Your Home Day, 14)
- Exercise/Diet/Fitness Focuses (Focii?) (Healthy Weight Week, 16-22)
- Clean out your inbox, either the paper one or the email one. (Clean Out Your Inbox Week, 24-31)
How timely! I was just sitting down to work on my blog posts for Universal Letter Writing Week. However, everywhere I’ve looked says that it’s the second week of January, or January 8-14. Where did you see that it’s the first week of the month?
Apparently I just spazzed. Thanks for catching that!
This is such a simple yet great concept. I’m a new follower so I will have to check out all the other challenges leading up to this month(6/2011).