2016 Challenges: in detail

Kaye's 2016 Challenges
1. Drink 2 litres of water a day. At work my team actually attempted a 3L a day challenge in November, but most of us forgot about it after two weeks. 3L for my size is actually a bit too much, plus 20% of your water intake actually comes from food. So I think 2 litres is doable. And on the upside, I won't be running to the washroom 10+ times a day.

2. Embrace my hairs natural texture twice a week. Confession time: I typically wash my hair every day and use a hair dryer and either a straightener or curling wand on it (often both). I'm attempting to wash it every 2-3 days, building up that time if I feel my hair would be better for it. But I feel uncomfortable going out without styling my hair. I don't think I can commit to my air dried hair all the time, but twice a week? Doable.

3. Read every day. I really enjoy reading. However, I don't make any time for it. I've gone through a dozen or so books in 2015, but most of them were through Audible (highly recommend). I'd like to focus on spending time doing something I love.

4. Bring a bagged lunch every day. For a long time I was notoriously bad at bringing lunch from home. In the first year at my job I brought lunch probably a dozen times. Granted, I was only part time for the first year, but still. A lot of money has been spent on lunches, as evidenced by my Mint budgeting app. I actually don't mind prepping lunch, I just have to actually do it.

5. Go vegetarian every second day. This is more just seeing if I can do it. I eat vegetarian meals quite often (though it includes fish more often than not) and would like to see if it will make a difference in my overall health and attitude.

6. Unplug after 10pm. I've read time and time again about the importance of unplugging your electronics at the end of the day for a few hours before sleeping (she types at 11:58pm). But I still end up scrolling through my phone minutes before I fall asleep and within minutes of waking up.

7. Go to bed before 11pm. I love sleep, but am sorely lacking in getting enough every night. I do sleep a fairly healthy amount (depending on your definition of "healthy"), around 6 to 7 hours of average. But I know that my optimal amount is closer to 8/9 hours.

8. Save $100 a week. Because who doesn't want more money? I think this challenge would best be tied into the bagged lunch challenge, so who knows. Maybe this one (or challenge #4) will appear for two months in my 2016.

9. Commit a random act of kindness every day. RAK, or random acts of kindness, was a campaign held by one of the organizations I am a part of (CFC/ANCOP). I always thought it was a little silly, since random acts of kindness should naturally occur in your every day life -- multiple times a day. But I find myself becoming increasingly more selfish, or only being kind to the people I know - definitely not a random act.

10. Exercise 3x a week. Whoop there it is. In any New Years "Resolution" list there has to be some sort of health-related goal -- losing weight, going to the gym, etc. It's like, in the rule book or something. I'm not trying to be too lofty or demanding, but I think 3x a week is something I can commit to.

11. Practice the guitar daily. Another confession: I bought a guitar last year with the intention of learning it. I even wrote out cue cards with chords and how to play them. I practiced every day to build up calluses on my fingers so it wouldn't hurt to play (for about a week...). And now it collects dust on it's stand in the corner of my room. It's pretty beaten up, but it's a good quality guitar and it deserves to be loved (it's an Art & Lutherie I bought for under $150 at Long & McQuade since it used to be a rental guitar).

12. Write every second day. During a "Visions & Goals" workshop at the office in 2015 we attempted to make lofty goals that scared us (so, not what this blog post is about), just to see what was important to us. And to get us to work towards that dream life that we have for ourselves. As I mentioned, I love reading. But I also love writing. And dreaming. And creating. And telling stories. And making people laugh. And making people happy. So I'm attempting to build up my confidence in writing something bigger. "Writing" doesn't have to be these blog posts, or essays that I can compile into a book, or the start of the great (Canadian) novel. It just has to be something I'm proud of.