30-Day Challenges 2017

This year I've decided that I want to do a 30-day challenge (ish) every month, just for fun. This is not so much a resolution as it is an experiment to challenge and change some of the habits I have that can really bug me.

These challenges are not so much 30-day challenges as monthly challenges. If the day has 31 days like January, it's a 31 day challenge, and February is a 28 day challenge, and so on.

As it is now February, I figured I would share some of my challenges for the year, and my reflections on January's Challenge.

(If you don't care about my January Challenge review, skip to the bottom for a list of Challenge ideas!)

January

I challenged myself to go 31 days without fanfiction. This is a really personal challenge for me, because I've read fanfiction almost every day since I discovered it when I was 10 (so for 14 years, I've read something of fanfiction every day). This is a really difficult habit to break, and I love fanfiction so it's not like I'll never read it again (it's now February 3rd and I've read... a lot of fanfiction already).

But another of my personal goals in January was to read 10 books, and reading fanfiction really gets in my way when I want to read books. Fanfiction is so much easier! I can read on my phone with one hand, while books are actual things I have to hold and really focus on.

So I knew this month would be a challenge. I did not realize just how challenging it would be. I discovered that I have an ingrained reaction when watching TV or movies - when I see something that I like, such as character moments and events, that get glossed over or under-developed, I reach for my phone to see if there is any fanfiction that can fill the void I found in the canon.

In January, I re-watched Season 6 of Charmed (with Drew Fuller as Chris from the future with lots of under-developed issues) and I struggled not to search for fanfiction. Teen Wolf came back on air and I struggled not to read fanfiction.

Then I did something really stupid and watched Voltron: Legendary Defender on Netflix.

I. Died.

There are only 2 seasons. I watched this show in about 2 days. I wanted more, so much more!!! 

Usually, I go online and find fanfiction to explore the characters, to explore relationships that are neglected in order to develop plot, to discover all the ships and who loves who and wonderful subtext that I may have missed.

I could do nothing. I filled that void with searching fanart instead, but that really just made me want the fanfiction.

Basically I struggled.

I did read 7 books. I fell into a slump when I watched Voltron but I got out of it again - just not fast enough to finish more before February.

I think in the future I will be better able to control these habits, because I know it's a giant time suck, but I'm not gonna stop entirely again. I will limit when I read, like only after reading so much from a real book to keep on track with my book reading goals as well.


Anyway, that was January. Now it's February and this month, my goal is daily meditation. I tried meditating some in 2015 while living in Korea and I found that it was easier to sleep if I meditated before, and that is my goal this month!

I am super stressed because I'm moving in ... 14 days. Oh crap. Yeah, so, stress. That is a huge part of my life and majorly affecting my sleep. So I'm meditating for 20 minutes everyday and I'll get back to you later about how that goes. It's only the 3rd, so I don't want to make presumptions about how it's going.

Other challenges!

Throughout the year I'm planning other challenges for myself! Some I know when I'll be doing it, others are just going to be random, but here is the list of challenges I may end up doing throughout 2017:

1. No Sugar (I will die.)
2. No Spending (besides bills and necessities for life, of course)
3. No Apps (very difficult)
4. Go Outside Everyday for 15+ minutes (I like to be lazy and not wear pants. This is a challenge for me.)
5. Wake Up Early (like the 5AM Miracle Morning thing?)
6. No Facebook (Probably not that hard.)
7. Write in a Gratitude Journal (Interesting exercise.)
8. Do a Random Act of Kindness Every Day (In South Korea... may be very hard.)
9. No Meat (Again, in South Korea. May be very hard.)
10. Write at Least 500 Words a Day (I just started a new project, so that one may not be difficult.)
11. Daily Vlog? (gotta get back into YouTube first...)

What other challenges could I take on? Suggestions are totally welcome!