From 18 days of journal writing through to cold-water experimentation, meditation, speed reading and fire-walking. I self-experimented with concepts and ideas that are supposed to have a positive impact on wellbeing and life.

Transformative, revitalizing and fun is how I would describe my 20 challenges, that lasted 18 days each for 2018. My aim was to create a ‘memory year’ which would be filled with moments that would embed into memories to last for a life-time. At the start of the year, I wrote that I felt my time was filled up with being ‘busy’ and I was missing out on the wonderful highs and lows of the adventure we call life, as I couldn’t remember much of it all. Time goes by and all we have is moments, but my moments were just starting to become a blur of one year morphing into the next. This challenge allowed me to live each day focusing on the process of life rather than frantically trying to reach some elusive endpoint or outcome in the future, that was supposed to make me feel fulfilled. When I came up with the idea it just felt right and it fit perfectly into a calendar year of 365 days with 20 challenges that would last 18 days, adding up to 360 days with the bonus of 5 extras days for good measure. 

Every 18 days, I experimented with a new idea or concept that I had researched or heard about that was supposed to improve wellbeing in the form of a small, manageable challenge that fitted into my life situation at the time. This worked really well as it was simple and easy to do. It felt fun which meant I was able to stick at things without them feeling like an extra job or chore. I journaled the journey, which was quite convenient as my first 18-day challenge was to keep a diary. After 18 days this habit become part of what I did every day. In fact, many of the little challenges are what I call ‘sticky’ and have attached themselves to my life as daily routines. Lots of little things embedded one by one overtime can add up to some significant lifestyle changes!

I set four guidelines for this adventure:

• small ‘doable’ challenges.

• keep it simple

• enjoy the journey

• be present   

What have I noticed doing this process?

Firstly, I loved it. It was my own personal journey and I learnt a lot about myself. There were quite a few times when I didn’t know what I was going to do for the next challenge then it would just come to me. Maybe a podcast or life event would trigger an idea that I wanted to try. Some challenges were bigger than others and I guess you could call them ‘full immersion’ like performing in a local, school fundraiser ‘Stars in your Eyes’ and attending Tony Robbins ‘Unleash the Power Within Event’ where I fire walked. However, most of the challenges were just small, little things that fitted into my lifestyle because of this they never felt like a burden. It wasn’t something I shared with everybody and tried to get them to jump on board and do the challenges with me (although I would love you to challenge yourself and try some). I mentioned it to the odd person to gauge their reaction but I didn’t want to get too caught up in what others think and their opinions as that often makes me second guess and doubt myself. This is where the idea ‘Live up to You’ came from. This is your life and you get one chance at it. Live up to your expectations that are in line with your values and beliefs. We live in a world full of expectations and pressure to be perfect at everything and it is overwhelming! Sometimes, you just need to step back, stop comparing yourself to others and do your own thing. We all know the fear of what others think is like a hand brake that stops us in our tracks. I encourage you to try one little challenge at a time that is in a positive direction. The reality is we are all ‘perfectly imperfect’ so ‘you do you’ and ‘live up to you’.