A Spring Challenge!

Yesterday finally felt like spring to me.  The weather was warm and breezy, you could smell the BBQ's being
fired up and I started checking out my vegetable garden patch, planning what to plant this year.  My thoughts naturally began to turn to images of the summer months to come and... wait for it... bathing suit weather at the cottage.  I am NOT ready.  But... I'm going to be!

I need a challenge.  Sometimes my challenges come in the form of work. New projects, new clients, new initiatives.  However, sometimes my challenges come from activities outside of work.  I like the balance and I like the control that this gives me.  Ensuring that I am constantly being challenged - by something - keeps m on my toes in everything that I do.  It keeps me fresh, keeps me energized and keeps me focused.  I'm ready for a new one, and I invite you to join in!

Your challenge could be anything.  It could be something physical, it could be something you've been meaning to do but keep putting off, it could be a learning objective, or it could be something you are looking to push yourself with at work.  It could be big, it could be small, but I think that the spring is a great time to challenge ourselves with something... Extra!  Something that we have thought about but perhaps hesitated to get started with because we Can't..., or Shouldn't..., or Don't... We are dropping the excuses and 'reasons' NOT to do it and instead simply saying WHY NOT?

My challenge... is physical.  I have a million reasons why I haven't been working out as much but... two very good reasons why I need to.  First, I have a bad hip.  Degenerative arthritis means that if I don't keep moving and working my hip out, then it gets stiff, painful and my range of movement is significantly limited.  TaeKwondo has proven to be a great way to keep myself limber and moving.  Second, I have been putting off 'grading' for my next belt level in TaeKwondo for a year, never feeling that I was ready.

Here's my challenge then... to get into good-enough shape to successfully grade for my next TaeKwondo belt the end of June. June of this year.  No excuses.

What's your challenge?  What's something you have wanted to do or try but have been putting off?  No excuses.  Let's begin together.

• I need to learn my patterns (I haven't been fully committed so I keep forgetting them.  No more!)
• I need to lose weight to take the pressure off my hip for the jumps (trust me, my hip does not like my leaving the ground but I have jumps and 180 degree rotations with an elevated leg in my patterns. Less weight equals less stress so the 'extra' needs to go)
• I need to develop my upper body strength to get ready for my 100 pushups (lord I hate pushups, but it's part of the grading process so... it is now part of mine)
• I need to brush up on my Korean terminology (yep, there is theory to study!)

What do you need to do?  How are you going to make it happen?  Determine your steps but don't get caught up in the planning, let's get caught up in the Doing!  If you're willing to share, then post your Challenge below.  I'll update you every so often on how my Challenge is coming along, I'd love to hear from you. Nothing like a little public accountability! 

 May the Challenges... begin!