Back in 2018, I started “monthly challenges.” I found that a few months into the New Year, I found it hard to always keep my “resolutions” in mind and by February, I was disillusioned. So, I decided to start monthly challenges, where each month, I’d pick something to work on. You can find a recap of those monthly challenges here (it ranged from flossing everyday to switching from paper towels to microfiber cloths to reduce my paper usage.) 31 days or less, I found, was the sweet spot for making small changes. If the changes made my life easier or made me a better person,
And now, they’re back! I’m committing to a full year (12 months!) of monthly challenges. The key? At the end of each month, I decide what the next month’s challenge will be. I do this so that the challenges reflect what I really need to work on in that moment. Setting a full year of challenges ahead of time isn’t realistic for me, because my life is a whirlwind and each month, life happens and I need to focus on something else.
February Monthly Challenge: Recap
Unlike my failed January challenge, my February challenge was a complete success! In February, I vowed to give both one of my kids separate, undivided one-on-one time. I wanted this time not only for myself (being with my kids make me the happiest!), but because I know it means a lot to my kids, especially Luca.
With Luca, each week, we had a little “date.” Usually, at 3:30pm, after I nurse Roma, I go downstairs and run whatever errand I have to run or just get coffee. I’d take Luca with me – sometimes it was to get coffee (and I’d get him a croissant or cookie to nosh on with me), sometimes it was a longer walk to the pharmacy on his scooter, and other times it was to his favorite place, the grocery store, to grab a few food items. It was easy to do, and I’m excited to continue this moving forward. It made him so incredibly happy and I was going out anyway, so why not? Well, going anywhere with a toddler takes 3 times as long, but it was a nice way to slow myself down and enjoy the time with my son.
With Roma, we decided that instead of Luca and Roma going to music class together on the weekends, I’d just take Roma. Now, we have this dedicated one-on-one time together every Saturday and afterwards, we meet up with Lu and Luca and grab brunch. It’s become a nice, relaxing weekend tradition. Other than that, what I realized is that I do have one-on-one time with Roma a lot: I nurse her! That’s at least an hour of alone time every single day. Now, I just am much more mindful when we’re nursing. I don’t have my phone, I talk to her, sing to her, and we have our time. Sometimes it’s all about being present!
March Monthly Challenge
I really, really want to make more time for morning pages and mindfulness. I want to start a morning mindfulness practice, where I fill out a page or two out in my mindful journal, a cute gift I got from a friend that I’ve yet to break open. I want this to be the first thing I do, before I even workout. So, once our nanny arrives and she leaves to take Luca to school with Roma, I’m going to fill out my pages and then start my day.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this impacts my day to day!
I encourage you to either make your own monthly challenges this year or follow along with mine! Who’s with me? Leave a comment with your monthly challenge and let’s keep ourselves accountable!
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