Happy New Year! You have hit the reset button and you get to start fresh. Congratulations, you have made it to the new year, a new beginning in many ways.
This morning, on January 1st, Neha and I brainstormed and discussed how can we make this year a little different and more interesting than any of the previous years.
A New ‘New Year’
We didn’t want to do any new year’s resolutions this time. Like, lose another 10 pounds or travel to 6 new countries kinda common, boring, silly stuff.
This year, we wanted to do something fun and inspirational. Something that can be replicated by anyone and can be measured and therefore hold us accountable.
Read Next: 69 One Month Challenges That Will Make Your Life Better
12 Months, 12 Challenges
After drinking a gallon of water to flush all the alcohol from our system from the last night’s new year’s eve party, and peeing around 15 times, we were finally hit with a lightbulb moment.
We thought of how we can turn an ordinary year into a transformational year. Something that is both fun and motivational for our travel-addict community.
We had a nicely brewed cappuccino by the window while we enjoyed the sunny Boston afternoon. We discussed what challenges are practically doable by most people and beneficial to the doer even if they fail. We brainstormed and selected the following ideas.
Related: If you like challenges, you’ll love Our Ultimate Travel Bucket List
12 Challenges in 12 Months
- One month without alcohol and soda
- One month of being total Vegan
- One month of sugar detox
- One month of running 1 mile each day
- One month of yoga every day
- One month of social media detox
- One month of caffeine detox
- One month of eating only at home or home-cooked meal
- One month of no Netflix and TV
- One month of daily reading for at least 30 minutes
- One month of daily mindfulness meditation for at least 20 minutes
- One month of doing a random act of kindness
No soda, no alcohol, no caffeine
Monthly Challenges Breakdown
- January – one month without alcohol and soda
- February – one month of being total Vegan
- March – one month of sugar detox
- April – one month of running 1 mile each day
- May – one month of yoga every day
- June – one month of social media detox
- July – one month of caffeine detox
- August – one month of eating only at home or home cooked meal
- September – one month of no Netflix and TV
- October – one month of daily reading for at least 30 minutes
- November – one month of daily mindfulness meditation for at least 20 minutes
- December – one month of doing a random act of kindness
Well, this is going to be both fun and tough.
That said, we want to encourage you to make your own list of challenges and play along with us.
A new day, a new start
Benefits of Monthly Challenges
Whether it’s writing a novel in 30 days or doing 30 days of yoga or 30 days of running or 30 days of detoxing, there is a good reason that 30 days challenges are getting popular. I believe:
- Monthly challenges are a great way to instill new healthy habits
- Anyone can commit to doing anything for 30 days
- The 30 days duration is neither too long nor too short
- A monthly schedule is easy to track and follow
- These can be turned into fun group activities and can be viewed as games
Well, the clock is already ON. Let’s get started and motivate each other!
Challenge Your Friends
Please share your progress and lessons learned from each challenge on the social media of your choice or just comment below.
Please follow us on @The Art of Travel and @Fitness_Girl_Daily. We’ll be sharing our progress and our failures on Instagram stories.
Please tag us in your posts if you are planning to do any of the challenges above.
And, once again, a happy new year to you and yours from all of us at The Art of Travel family.