30 Day Challenge

My Grandma has been subscribing me to self help discovery magazines since I was in my early teens. With every Real Simple and Body & Soul article I read, and every episode of Oprah I sob through, one would think I am the most balanced human specimen ever created. Wrong. As I've mentioned before, balance is one of the hardest obstacles I've encountered in my adult life and since I have now been given a magical restart button, I think I'll take it!

When I told my work friends I was moving to Austin, a close co-worker of mine said, "Kim! Now you get a clean pie!" She was referencing this beauty below (or a similar chart) - a life balance pie chart used to identify problem areas visually and encourage growth in said lacking areas resulting in a perfectly balanced life pie. Easy as... well, you know...

Of course, one can rename the sections of the pie to correspond with the aspects of her own life she is attempting to balance. For example, I would rename my segments:

• LOVE + FAMILY
• SPIRITUAL GROWTH
• PHYSICAL HEALTH
• EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
• HOUSEHOLD & LIVING ENVIRONMENT
• RELATIONSHIPS & SOCIAL ACTIVITY
• CAREER
• FINANCIAL HEALTH

Which leads me to my own 30 Day Challenge. Honestly, it's overwhelming to attempt to work on all eight pie pieces simultaneously, so I had to find a way to decipher the forest from the trees. These eight ingredients make a perfect pie, but they are all just more specific threads that contribute to the holy trinity of overall balance: mind, body and soul. So here is the challenge to myself:

For the next 30 days, I pledge to...

• BREATHE (mind) - 30 minutes of silence, no computer, no phone, no puppy; just me.
• MOVE (body) - Workout in a gym, try a yoga class, go on a long walk, etc.
• CONNECT (soul) - Call or email a friend or family member I haven't talked to in a while.

March 21 will be Day #1 of my challenge and to hold myself accountable, I also plan to blog each day. So I have about 36 hours before I have to move, breathe, connect and write every day for 30 days. Why not just start today? Come on, we all know the best diets start on Mondays.