Monday, October 22, 2012

The Results Are In

The 53rd birthday has come and gone and a new year of challenges is before me. This blog started out as a 52@52 blog to record my progress on my 52 Things at 52 challenge I set for myself over a year ago. When I embarked on this venture, I knew that completing all 52 items would probably not happen and I was fine with that. The goal was to work towards the completing and to gain better habits and be more aware. In this, I feel I was successful because several good things have come from my 52 challenge.

I'll start with a listing of the items I did complete within the year. I read over 52 books, I tried 52 new recipes and added quite a few to my recipe book as keepers.  I did have 52 lunches with friends, I visited a National Park in Nevada, I watched 52 sunsets, I took 52 photos I was proud of, I wrote over 52 entries in a journal and developed a habit of writing again. I feel much more confident in shooting photos in manual mode, I found 52 ways to give apart from the holidays, learned more than 52 lessons from the year and showed my love for Russ in over 52 ways. I hosted a Japanese dinner for friends, improved my prayer life and made two new friends. I played in the rain, visited 5 new states and decluttered a room. I attempted to give blood but my blood was rejected, spent several days with elderly people, reconnected with an old friend and had no colas for an entire year. I collected 52 things, avoided the scale and went rock climbing.

Things that were partially accomplished were writing on my blogs. I think I did 20 posts. I wrote about 20 letters, 10 thank you notes, 31 scrapbook pages, learned 33 new things, took 32 walks away from the normal neighborhood walk, watched maybe 24 sunrises, tried 21 new foods cooked by others, made about 40 care phone calls, completed 27 classes and 10 cards in the art journal challenge. I had about 25 technology free days and explored 10 new places in Georgia. I made progress in many of the challenges but didn't totally complete 52 of each one. Many of them I quit recording in my book so I had to guess at how many I had done but was honest when I determined those I had done and those I really didn't spend the time on.

Good things that came from the challenge was that I developed a regular habit of reading my bible. I believe I learned a lot from all my readings too and it is something I will continue. I developed a good writing habit with all my journal writing and accomplished a lot of journaling that will eventually turn into scrapbook pages.   I didn't really miss colas this year and even though I'm now permitted to drink them, I'm choosing not to have them very often. I rediscovered my love of cooking with all the recipes I made this year and I think Russ and Amber enjoyed being my taste testers. I mastered manual mode on my camera which is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm still not perfect at it but have learned how to make adjustments as needed.  I felt a great sense of worth through my accomplishments. It gave me something to strive for and made the year fun.

I love challenging myself to grow and change. I think that it will be an annual thing now to set up some sort of challenge for myself at my birthday. I would recommend it to anyone who feels like they are in a rut. It's a great way to push yourself to go beyond the same ol' same ol' stuff. As of this post, this blog will be completed and my further birthday challenges will remain on my Snippets of Life blog. Yes, there is a "53 challenge" so go there to check it out and see what's new with me. Sayonara 52. It was a good year.

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