JOtL August: Day Five

Wow, talk about a perfect time to do this challenge!

Here’s what I’ve been learning during my first week of my accountability challenge:

• Best laid plans are subject to voluntary change, and that’s not something for which I need to apologize.
• Doing one thing at a time is not only more efficient, but it brings down the stress level.
• The world still spins when the to-do list is not completed.
• Worst-case-scenario is never as bad as I think it’ll be.

I wish I had the time to detail for you all every story behind these lessons, but alas, I must a-bed. Let me just say though, if you’re struggling with your own challenge this month, take heart. We’re striving for growth, not perfection. If you did anything today, you’re still moving, and you’re still growing. Be proud of any forward motion!

This month’s week one update form will be available on the weekend. Keep your eyes peeled!

JOtL Lite: Day Three

When it comes to good health, water is a no-brainer. We all know the benefits of staying hydrated. But why should we indulge in the second part of our JOtL Lite challenge? What’s so great about thankfulness?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve found that thankfulness is the best kind of medicine.

It’s easy in our modern age to view our lives in terms of what we don’t have. Consumerism is built on the premise that we are without something that could bring us happiness. Every advertisement single-mindedly strives to convince us that if we just had a little more, if we weren’t lacking in this or that one area, we would be complete. Standing in a mall or browsing online shops is the easiest way to discover what we don’t have, and the realization only serves to awaken within us a desire to accumulate, to consume. We can never have enough when our focus is on the void.

But thankfulness swings the camera around and gives us the ability to examine life from a different angle altogether. One minute I may feel like less of a person for owning only three pairs of shoes – but the next I can feel wealthy knowing that I still own three more pairs than a significant portion of the world’s population. Eating at home because I can’t afford to eat out may feel like a drag until I open my pantry to discover more food than some people have ever seen in one place.

As you write your three things to be thankful for, allow your perspective to shift. Obviously we don’t want to adopt guilt or shame, but a more accurate view of our blessings can definitely dull the pain of consumerism’s lies. We are complete. We have air, food, and shelter. The rest is sundry.

What have you discovered about yourself or your life as you record your blessings?

JOtL: This point last month…

At this point in the May challenge, all of our participants had signed up and were ready to go! Let’s take a jaunt down memory lane to see where we were a month ago…

Unblocked Writer

I will limit my TV viewing to 2 hours per day. I am currently a “tv is on if I’m home” person. This NEEDS to change if I am going to be productive in my writing.

Alyssa

To reduce the clutter in my balcony storage closet by at least 50%.

Karen

I spend every day wasting time watching reruns of Criminal Minds every night. I also waste time watching reruns of other shows as well, so . . . if it is a rerun, I will try to watch something on an educational channel at least once a day.

Lynne

My challenge is not to eat out. No Chinese, Mexican, Thai or Pizza. I will save my money.

Ashlee

“I plan on calling 20 people in 20 days. I’ve never been good at picking up the phone to reconnect with friends, but now that I’m looking at my time differently, I want to maximize it to reach out to others. Even if it’s just a simple, “”I’ve been thinking about you.”” People need that sometimes.

Janey

I’m in my seventies. I’ve been slowly decluttering for years & I want to get more done. When I die, I absolutely do not want to leave my kids with a bunch of junk to deal with. (like my mama left us kids)

Rachael

I have been told to slow down and stop stressing so this challenge fits perfectly. I am slowly rediscovering the world reclaiming my time and saving money by making my own food and clothes from scratch. This should be a fantastic way to encourage me seeing everyone’s progress.I have started a blog in order to try to inspire myself to keep this up.

Leslie

Sorry this is a bit late. Need to management my internet time. There are several boards I visit daily and tons of research time (recipes, Burning Man, gardening, etc.) So I plan on consolidating my internet time into two blocks – one being in the morning for no more than 30 minutes & once in the eve for 60-90. I tend to jump on several times during the day, “when I have a spare moment,” but end up being on longer than anticipated.

Commit2Twenty

I am going to tackle the closet under my basement stairs where I keep all of our Christmas decorations, gift wrapping supplies and several old jackets, snow pants, and scarves. This year when I stored everything after Christmas I bought a couple of new bins and had planned on putting away everything very neatly, but now I can’t open the door without Christmas spilling out onto the floor. My goal is to fit all the Christmas supplies into 4 bins, to donate 50-75% of the items on hangers, and to organize and minimize the gift wrapping supplies. My ultimate goal would be to be able to relocate everything in the closet to our storage room so that the closet could be used to store the winter jackets and snow pants that we will wear next winter.

Finding Victory in Failure

The May JOtL challenge might have been this group’s best and worst. Reading your updates, I heard about thrilling successes and depressing failures. Some of you felt that this challenge was excellent, and others of you weren’t as happy with your progress. This exchange happened on Facebook:

Okay, I deserved to get teased about that one! But I stand behind my statement.

Think about the world around you – about the people you interact with all the time. How many of the people in our world actively, purposefully, and proactively chase good things for themselves? For me, the answer is not many. We live in an age of convenience, which for much of the world equals complacency. Every day we each have the opportunity to move forward, grow ourselves, improve. And every day billions of people pass up that opportunity.

But you? You took it.

Jump Off the Ladder is not about the challenges. It’s about changing how we think. It’s about being discontent with being average and being determined to have more. So what if this try didn’t end up exactly like you thought? Tomorrow you have the exact same chance, and knowing you all, I believe you’ll take it. The important thing is that you took the step. I hope you’re all as proud of yourselves as I am of you!

As we go through our days, I hope we can all (myself included) learn to see our victories – even the ones that don’t look how we expect. Success is no less real just because we didn’t plan for it.

What “accidental” or “incidental” victories have you experienced recently?