Tag Archives: Challenge 2020

#Challenge2020 – July Reading Challenge

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I know I’ve talked about this before, but when I felt like my word for 2020 was “Challenge,” I was kinda bummed. But I went with it. I went on Pinterest and started saving challenges. I tried a few things in January and February. I won some, I lost some.

Then came March…

I had no idea what challenge to take on in March. I looked at lots of ideas and nothing jumped out at me. I decided to forgo March and set a challenge for Lent instead. Again, nothing sat right.

Then came Covid…

Okay, so maybe 2020 IS the challenge. For the last three and a half months I’ve worked (from home!) to expand my church’s and employers’ reach on social media. I’ve rebuilt and updated websites. I’ve blogged. I’ve learned Photoshop and found other tools and resources. I found ways to get groceries, cook/bake what we couldn’t buy, or go without. I attended (and hosted) church via streaming platforms. I decorated my windows with hearts, cleaned out closets, and used Zoom and social media to keep in touch with friends and family. It’s been a challenge, for all of us.

And here I sit, July first. I’m back at work – full-time in the office(s). My son has gone off to his summer job. I got my teeth cleaned last week, and restaurants are opening up. We’re back to having church in person. Cases are climbing, but things are settling back to what we consider normal.

And I have a new challenge on my heart…

Like many of you, my “To Be Read” (TBR) pile is HUGE. I’m halfway through several books at any given time, and I buy more and reread favorites even though the pile keeps growing! So my challenge for July is simple: read/finish three books. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but hear me out.

Book one is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. As a direct result of the unrest and racial tensions in our nation, I decided to educate myself about the experiences of people who are different from me. I don’t have to agree with everything they think, do, or say, but I want to know their “why.” I want to know what I’m not aware of so I can form opinions that aren’t just based on my own experiences. I started listening to this book on audio last month, and it’s slow going. There are only six chapters (plus an introduction) but each of the seven sections is over two hours long and full of so much information that it’s time-consuming to digest.

Book two is in a completely different direction. I bought a copy of Growing up With Manos: the Hands of Fate over a year ago, and haven’t read it yet. The book was written by Jackey Neyman Jones, the child star of a really crappy movie. As a big Mystery Science Theater/Rifftrax fan, I’ve known Manos: The Hands of Fate for years, and learning that there was a book about the making of that crappy classic had my attention. This month I’ll finally give it a read.

Book three is another one off my Audible library. My Audible credits added up when I wasn’t commuting, and I currently have four unfinished books sitting in my account when I’m usually waiting for credits! Other than The New Jim Crow, my waiting books are We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, and Extraordinary, Ordinary People by Condoleezza Rice. At least one of them will be done by the end of July!

So that’s what I’m up to right now. I hope you and yours are all staying healthy, and that you’ve found ways to make the most of this crazy time.

Psalm 46:1-3: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

February Triple Challenge

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A new month is upon us (finally? already? It feels like it’s been January forever, but I’m still writing the date wrong…). It’s time to update you on my One Thousand Things challenge and let you know what I’m up to in February.

As you may remember, my challenge for January was to sell, toss, or donate (appropriately) one thousand physical things (not including actual trash). I’ve done a hundred things in a weekend before, and I wanted to really challenge myself. I went through my wardrobe on a snow day. I finally cleaned out the medicine cabinet. I went through a lot of stuff, and I’m still only at 250ish. On the downside, I started my “Year of Challenge” with a fail. On the upside, I really got into the spirit of this challenge. What’s not reflected in that 250 is that I also cleaned out digital clutter from my inbox and phone. I unsubscribed from a number of things. I finished books I’d been picking at. I didn’t hit my goal, but I did buy in to the purge mentality. So I’ve decided to keep that challenge going through February. I haven’t even touched the crawl space, and I have some things laying around that I’ve been meaning to sell online. There’s clutter in my garage and shed, too, but those will have to wait until all this snow melts…

In addition to continuing my quest for one thousand things, I have taken on a triple challenge for February. A group of my friends has decided to listen to Transformation Church’s Crazy Faith sermon series. There are twenty-one sermons in the series, each about an hour long. My goal is to finish watching/listening to the entire run by the end of the month. I’ve only listened to the first two so far, but I’m loving them already.

My second February challenge came out of one of the sermons I already listened to. In part two, “Baby Faith,” Michael Todd challenges his listeners to spend fifteen minutes a day reading the Bible. I’m ashamed to say that this is something I’m not very good at. I mean, I’ve read the whole Bible, but actually sitting down every. single. day in an intentional time of study is something I’ve gotten away from. During the month of February I will spend fifteen minutes a day, distraction-free, reading the Bible.

My third February challenge isn’t spiritual or physical, it’s environmental and intentional. During the month of February I will not use a single plastic shopping bag. Remember years ago there used to be an ad campaign that said Plastic Makes it Possible? I remember being excited about things packaged in plastic instead of glass. Plastic seals tight, and it doesn’t break (at least not easily). Plastic seemed like a perfect solution. But as time has passed we’re learning more and more about the recycleability (or lack thereof) of plastics, the garbage floating in our oceans, and the harmful chemicals given off by plastics.

This is one of those times in life when I start to feel guilty for the years of waste I’ve contributed. But as I’m always telling my readers, guilt doesn’t help. When you know better, do better. So I’m trying to do better. I switched to bamboo toothbrushes. I bought reusable baggies for storing dry items. I recycle plastics that I can. But there’s still a lot more I could be doing.

The biggest things that get in my way are unpreparedness and laziness. If I stop at the convenience store, or Target (Hello? Target? Why do you only offer plastic bags??), and I don’t have reusable bags with me, plastic is my only option. So for the month of February, I am committing to using no new plastic shopping bags. If I have old bags, I can reuse those or recycle them at a designated facility (you can’t toss them in your bin). I’ll dig out my reusable bags from the garage, clean them up (winter in Minnesota…), and keep them in my vehicle. If I forget, I go without a bag or find another way to make it work. No ifs, ands , or buts.

That’s what it comes down to with all these challenges, really. If I commit, no excuses, there’s a lot I can accomplish. Let’s see where February takes us!