Day One...

Something I am hearing all the time while I am at university is 'Challenge Yourself'. Now that specifically is referring to my coursework, but recently I have started to realise (the horror) education isn't everything. When I leave university I am going to be a real person, not just another member of an institution by which I define my life. Oh shit.

And I've realised that 'Challenge Yourself' is something that we should keep doing. Forever. We should never be completely satisfied with ourselves, because when you get to that point, you might as well stop. But let's face it, months and years can pass by where you don't feel like your challenging yourself at all.

My whole life I have thrown myself into my education and taken from it as much as I can, but it's getting to the point that I'm realising there's so much more I could be doing to make my own life more interesting, more fun, just... more. No one wants to feel like a boring person. If I'm honest with myself, I have very few special skills, I haven't done that much, and I don't know a lot about the world. And I think I want to change that.

I have been completely inspired by This Ted Talk. It's all about setting yourself different thirty day challenges. Basically, in encourages you to start doing stuff. It's really simple, pick something to do (or not to do) and do it for thirty days. It will give you new experiences, new topics of conversation, new skills and maybe even new perspectives. Sounds like exactly what I need right now.

This guy has completely changed through doing these challenges, for the better. As he himself says he 'went from desk dwelling computer nerd to the kind of person who bikes to work - for fun'. He wrote a freaking novel (I think we all know what my November challenge will be - definitely jumping on that band wagon)

"The next thirty days are going to pass, whether you like it or not."

Recently I've been filled with a fear that I am simply not doing enough with my life. I want to experience more, I want to bring more into the conversations. Ultimately, I want to be a more interesting person.

So now it is time for my first challenge....

Ok so I'm actually starting with two. They say not to overdo it but I think these two compliment each other pretty well.

Eat no refined sugar for thirty days.
Practice juggling for at least half an hour every day for thirty days.

What do these two things have to do with each other? Well first of all, I just couldn't decide between them. It's summer soon and I need to take some kind of dieting action right now before it's too late. Sugar is my downfall and therefore the most obvious thing to tackle. On the other hand, I have just recently become obsessed with juggling and it seems it would be wise to strike while the iron is hot. What to do....

Then I realised. If I am to get through this no sugar challenge then I will NEED a distraction. Juggling can be said distraction. It works really well. Juggling does actually make people happy - it's used as a therapy. So I'm going to kill two birds with one stone and use the juggling challenge to distract me from my much harder challenge of cutting out my favourite foods in the world.

And this starts today.

Wish me luck!