So June seems to be the month of 30 day challenges. I’ve seen the 30 day ab challenge, squat challenge, paleo challenge, Christian music challenge, bike to work challenge and photo a day challenge. As I’m seeing all these I’m wondering what the hell the big deal is.

Turns out thirty days is a magic change your life and it might actually stick kind of a thing. I didn’t believe it until I started looking back on some of the things I’ve changed in my own life.

I no longer watch the news, my tolerance for the daily list of disasters reached the breaking point almost four years ago. The big dramatic voice that all the newscasters have adopted just plucked my last nerve. I didn’t consciously say I won’t watch the news for thirty days but that’s exactly how it started. Now I’m informed through other sources that are more balanced.

I needed to get more veggies and fruit in my diet so I bought a Nutri-Bullet (which I wore out and had to buy another one just recently) and almost two years later I’ve been getting practically my entire daily allowance each morning. Check.

I wanted to pick up my camera again. I missed it and apparently it missed me too. I did an actual thirty day photo treasure hunt (this was a friendly challenge, no pressure, safe place kind of an entrée back into the photographic world) with amazing results. The right side of my brain suddenly remembered things like depth of field and shutter speed but more importantly everything looked worth photographing. The other challenge I tacked on to this one was daily post production and ruthless deletion of so so images. I believe my hard drive will thank me. Still annoying everyone with my documenting life…Check.

In December I bought a Fitbit which will count your steps, analyze your sleep, connect to Spark People so you can log your food, you get the idea. The goal was ten thousand steps a day. Well for the first four months it told me exactly what I WASN’T doing. The winter sucked what can I say? Along comes spring and I convince a few friends to Fitbit with me and we’re off…kind of. It’s not a challenge but a friendly way of competing. What I found is that people have lives, they’re busy and making sure I’m getting my steps in is not their problem. Just sayin. So I did a few things to get the steps in, walk the girls in the morning, walk them separately in the afternoon. Not gonna happen, they are not afternoon walkers. There are too many distractions for my Lina to bear and one day she actually turned us around and took us home. Ok.

Then there is the matter of mindless TV and I’m not really a TV person. I don’t have a TV in my bedroom and my poor little TV in the living room is about 12 years old and so is my Tivo. I don’t need much and the thought of a huge crystal clear like you’re at the movies TV is lost on me. TV sucks me in as soon as I turn it on. It makes me snack and makes me mad and I can’t stand it but I can’t break away either. Oh you know what I’m talking about, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Pitbulls and Parolees, anything makeover don’t say you’ve never been there…whatever your personal variation in programming.

So now I’m thinking of doing my own 30 day challenge to only watch television while on my stepper. That will get me my steps, clean up my TIVO and get me out when I’m done.   I can jump off after reaching my ten thousand steps (I’ve been averaging between six and seven thousand a day) and get on with the business of relaxing or walking my way into over achievement…not likely. Stay tuned.