Was August an august month? [Review]

Nikitha
4 min readSep 1, 2017

--

Well, it was.

But it was not too at the same time.

As usual, a few things which I planned went well and a few did not.

For a change let me start with what did not go well.

30-day Reading challenge:

If I have to measure the success of this challenge according to the rules I set for myself, then it was an utter flop. But if I have to measure it based on the progress I have made, it is a grand success. It did not go well because I did not read 75 pages on every single day. But there were days when I read 100 pages too. But on the other days, either I did not have the time or my eyes were already dead tired. It went well because I developed other habits like making notes, writing reviews and looking up new words.

Getting back to small routines:

As reading challenge was another time-consuming activity, I could not go back to small routines completely. But I improved when compared to the previous month.

I did well in

Exercises:

I tried new workouts. I learned new yoga poses. Some of the workouts were so tiring that I had sore muscles and was down with a fever. I think it always better to have a mentor to guide you on choosing workouts.

Mood Tracker:

I made note of my emotions every day. But I did not know what to call neutral emotions. So I ended up noting down only the extreme ones.

Life Lessons Tracker:

This was on my checklist since a year. It finally saw the light of the day this month. There is something new or something old but forgotten to be learned every day. I have 30 lessons now. To gain the best from it, I need to revise and internalize those lessons.

The month gone is gone. I did become a better person. But this new month is a new opportunity to become better than before. Here is what I planned:

30-day Positivity Challenge:

Last month, I read 3 books which talk about the importance of smiling, affirmations and visualization. They claim that their lives have changed totally because of that. I want to experience the same. I want to envision how different my life can be by being positive.

It was so stressful last month that I even had an anxiety attack. So I want to learn to lead a calm and peaceful life with this positivity challenge. I will succeed in this challenge by doing these:

  • Creative visualization: In the last two days, I visualized two events. I went into a relaxed state and visualized the outcomes. Both of them came true. I don’t know if I should call them a coincidence or result of visualization. One of the events was, I was stuck in a technical problem in office and was not able to find a solution at all. That night and the next day morning, I kept on visualizing that the problem is solved. And the problem actually got solved the next day.
  • Affirmations: Affirmations help us overcome the negativity according to the books I read. Let me test them and let you know.
  • Reading books related to this: If I can’t find any source of smiles or laughter, I can always fall back on books.
  • Watching a funny video a day: One day I cracked up on a forwarded video. That was when I realised the tremendous power videos have to make you laugh instantly.
  • 30-day smile challenge: Smiling is the best way to attract positivity in life. It is the key stone challenge for the bigger positivity challenge. I will keep reminders to smile at least once every hour. I will look into the mirror and smile at myself. I will greet even strangers with a smile. I will just smile as much as possible.
  • 30-day complimenting challenge: When you genuinely compliment others, they feel happy. And you will feel happy in turn.
  • Gratitude journal: I stopped writing what I am happy for everyday in my diary. So I will start that back as a part of this challenge. Gratitude and positivity are highly correlated.

Food tracker:

I did this tracker the same time last month and totally forgot about it. When I was reading Happiness Project book, I came across food tracker. So I started this again. According to Gretchen Rubin, maintaining a food tracker helps you keep conscious of what you eat. I already reduced the number of chocolates I eat.

30-day watch Ted talks challenge:

I want to watch one ted talk a day. I will have at least 20 new ideas in the next 30 days taking into account that some of them might be repeated ideas.

30-day Reading and Writing:

Last month, I wanted to read to write better. But I ended up only reading. In order to write what I read, I need to write immediately. I don’t want to make it as strictly alternate days. But I want to read 50*15 pages and write 15 articles in the next 30 days.

The goals for the month of September are lofty. But the other day I came across a quote which said if you want to live life to the fullest, you need to become a totally different person every 6 months. I have started this becoming a better version journey a year back. I am definitely a better person than a year back. But then won’t it be awesome if I can try for a change in 6 months instead of a year?

What are your plans for September? How did your August go? Share with us in the comments section.

Happy September!

Originally published at www.lensq.com on September 1, 2017.

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

--

--

No responses yet

Write a response