I’ve been doing monthly challenges for several years now, and sometimes I pick really good challenges and sometimes I struggle to figure out what I want to do. It’s ok that it’s a mix, I know they can’t all be exactly perfect with the challenge I pick. But I’m always so happy when I pick a challenge and something just clicks with me and I feel like I’ve started a new habit that will continue for a while.
For April, I set the challenge to have less food waste. I knew I needed to do this challenge because I was getting lazy and wasteful with the food I bought. I might have all the best intentions when I go grocery shopping, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I feel the same way when it’s time to cook things. And while I have no issues eating leftovers, I also don’t want to eat leftovers several days in a row of the same thing so sometimes portions go back. Whenever I throw out food, that’s wasting money and I’ve been trying really hard to improve my spending. So I wanted to see how much I could reduce food waste to save money and be better about planning meals and making sure I don’t just order in if I get lazy.
I was surprised at how well I did with this challenge. I did still have things I had to throw out if they expired, but it was significantly less than what I normally would do. I was very careful about what I was buying from stores and opted to buy more frozen things like vegetables so I didn’t have to worry about things going bad quickly. I also started to make easier meals so they were only one or two servings. So I might make something like meatballs and some vegetables, but only make enough to have something for the next day instead of having it for 3 more days. I did still occasionally order in or go out to dinner, but with what I bought and made at home, I really reduced how much I wasted. And after last month, I feel like this is something I can continue to do and improve upon.
And for May, this challenge I feel has already started for me. This month, I want to work on being ok with not having perfection with things in my life. There are some parts of my life where I’m ok not always being perfect, but there are others where I really stress and get anxious if things aren’t exactly how I feel like they should be. One example of this is the frequency of my blog posts. I know I wrote last week that I was reducing how often I post on here, but I also really debated about doing a post yesterday because it felt so odd not to have something up when I’ve written every weekday for years. But I knew that I wanted to try to post less and had to be ok with the anxiety that brought me. I’m not being perfect with my writing the way I’m used to. I know it’s for the best, but that doesn’t always make it easier.
And there are other things that I know I only want to do if I can do them right. Sometimes the fear of not being perfect stops me from trying and I want to work on that feeling. I know that I won’t fail with everything I try, but I need to remember that it’s ok. I have failed at monthly challenges before and that has been ok. I have had bad workout days and that’s ok. I don’t know why I’m ok not being perfect in those ways but then with other things I just can’t get over it. And it’s not just being perfect, it’s also the fear of starting a task that I might have to split over a few days instead of getting it done in one. If something isn’t accomplished in the way I feel is right or perfect, sometimes I just can’t get started with it. And that’s not a good way to be.
I’m not going to try to deliberately fail at things, but I’m going to try to be more flexible with how I can do things and what accomplishing a task or idea means to me. If I want to get my whole house cleaned in one day but have to split it up in 2 because of time constraints, that’s ok and I need to remember that. I can’t necessarily predict what I will need to let go of the idea of perfection with, but I know that I will encounter that feeling several times over the month.
This is a challenge that I also have to accept will not necessarily be perfect since there will be times I let this feeling stop me. But all I can do is hope that I can overcome it more often than not and see some positive results by the end of the month.
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Not Perfect This Month (or Challenged With The Monthly Challenge)
Still Trying To Get Back To Normal (or Isolation Monthly Challenges Really Are Not Easy)
Recapping A Few Challenges From Last Month (or Getting Ready Stop Going Easy On Myself)
Continuing To Work On Myself (or More Reflective Challenges)
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