Let's get right down to it, shall we? The purpose of this blog will be to document the monthly challenges I set for myself. The purpose of the monthly challenges will be to completely distract myself from the fact that I will be turning 40 in 8 months. The original start date of this blog was supposed to be Aug. 9, 2009, the day I turned 39. It was going to document the final year of my 30's, in a light-hearted way, but that didn't happen. Plan B was to begin blogging on Jan. 1, 2010 - the start of a new year, the start of a new blog. Yeah, no. The siren call of the TV, couch and several bags of Lindt chocolate balls kept me away from my computer. So it is now January 7. If I wait for a clean, symbolic beginning, I will never start. I'm late for everything else, what makes this any different??
The challenges will vary in purpose and time commitment. Some will give me the kick in the butt I need to start acting like a responsible adult (i.e., starting a budget and actually sticking to it, organizing my photos), some will push me out of my comfort zone (changing my hair color, being more social with people at work) and others will be fun (learning to play a rock song on the guitar). They will be my shiny toy, the thing that distracts me from the fact that I will soon be older than dirt.
So, what is the very first challenge? Drum roll please... Every single day for the rest of this month, I will remove one shopping bag of clutter/no-longer-needed-stuff/crap from my house. This is a much-needed endeavor which, while boring and time-consuming, is much needed and reduce a lot of the stress I feel when I am home. I haven't decided if I'm going to post pictures of the ridiculous things I can't believe I still have or just keep track of my progress here. It will probably vary depending on my mood - do I feel like making fun of myself today or do I just want to get the damn task over with already? Anyway, the accountability will be good and hopefully will start a new habit so that I won't be in the position again of forever being stressed about people coming over.
