The idea of the 30 day challenge came to me during the Lent season of February 2012 to April 2012. My lovely wife stated that she was going to give up chocolate for Lent. I, not to be outdone, declared to not only give up chocolate, but ALL sweets! The only exception would be things that have positive health benefits like raw organic unfiltered honey and fruit.
The first couple of weeks were rough! Being a personal trainer I didn't eat that many sweets to begin with, but the fact that I couldn't have the occasional treat was tough. I think it was more of a mental anguish than anything physical. After a couple of weeks of replacing any treat temptation with a piece of fruit it became kind of nice. I looked forward to my apple or fresh pineapple after dinner instead of a cookie or some other sugary treat.
Easter Sunday I celebrated my victory of lasting the entire Lent season with no sweets by taste testing the spread of desserts. After which I, of course, felt horrible. The Lent season being more around 46 days than 30, it made me wonder what else I could accomplish in just 30 days.
With a fresh April month upon us I decided for the month of April I would commit to doing 50 burpees and a minimum one mile run every day on top of my normal workout routine. The April challenge started off great! I was running and doing burpees like nobody's business. That is until I got hit with a nasty stomach virus. It put me down for two days. During those two days I did manage 30 burpees somehow, but that's it. As soon as I could get my head out of the trashcan though I was back on schedule and I made up for lost progress. The first 10 days I stayed a little sore, but after that either my body adapted to the additional demands being placed on it, or things just went numb. Either way I was moving forward with the challenge. Not counting today, since I've done my obligatory burpees and run for today, I have only four days left of this challenge. I must admit that after this is over it will be some time before I do another burpee, but I may keep the one mile minimum run up.
So what's next? What does May hold in store? Well I've been thinking on it and I know it needs to be something that is challenging to me. Something that on a normal day I wouldn't give up. Every day without fail I do two things. (1) I check my Facebook and (2) I check my Twitter. Social media has become such a big part of our lives, mine included, I wonder if I could go the month of May without logging into my social media accounts. Would it be hard to not have constant communication with my online friends and family? I would still have my cell phone so I could call and text. But would I be able to get by with not knowing what everyone was up to? Not being "in the loop?" I suppose we're about to find out. It is, after all, only 30 days.
The Rules
What I cannot do:
-I cannot log on to Facebook or Twitter for the entire month of May.
-If I can't take it and end up logging on for any reason the challenge is over and I lose.
-I cannot have someone log into their account and check stuff for me.
-I cannot post to the sites via text message or any other means.
-I cannot click the "share to Facebook/Twitter" buttons on any article, picture, etc.
It will be complete Facebook and Twitter silence!
What I can do:
-I can log onto blogger (here) to post updates.
-That is all.
Let the challenge BEGIN! Well, in five days. So make sure you sign up for this blog to receive the updates. You can sign up to receive them by e-mail as well. That way you'll be updated on my progress, or lack there of, when I post it.
Feel free to offer words of encouragement, or words of any matter, but keep it clean! Also, I'm planning on keeping the challenge series going for the entire year of 2012, so if you have ideas for future challenges feel free to send them to me.
Your Challenger,
Steven
