Challenge

Back in mid April I set myself the Challenge to be able to solve a Rubik’s Cube. 

I love the word Challenge and the experience of a Challenge, defined as “something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination” and “a Challenge is something that puts you to the test”.

I started watching youtube clips on the Rubik’s cube and found “The Easiest Tutorial” and I kept watching the 4 parts over the next 24 hours at different times of the day.  I was so excited when I solved it!  I felt such Joy that I met the Challenge and immediately did a victory dance around the house and took photos of me holding up the completed cube and text some photos to my brother and two friends. 

During this coronavirus isolation time I love getting out each day walking - I love the exercise, the fresh air and just getting outdoors.  A couple of weeks ago I set myself a new Challenge of wanting to run around the block.  When I was in my late 20s I was a very good and fast runner and I loved running - it was a big part of my life.  I love the feeling of running.  And I love a Challenge.  And so I started out just trying to make it to the first corner.  When I made it up the hill to the corner after a few days, I was so happy and had an instant feeling of Joy.  And then a day or two later I was able to make it to the next crossroad, and then a day later up to the next corner.  Each time when I Challenge myself and run a bit further I feel so much Joy.  It definitely takes mental strength and positive self talk to keep myself going and running, to strive towards the Challenge.  I’ve now made it about 3/4s of the way up the third street and I can’t wait to turn the corner for a homebound run.  I love when I am running and I look ahead, and think I’ll run to the next tree or run to a sign, and I put on the sprint as if I am an Olympic runner and run as fast as I can - and I get a great feeling of Joy. 

It was also great during the week when my Manager sent an email to everyone at work with a Marketing Challenge.  It was between 1-3pm and it was based on the number of calls and a number of key results.  I started around 1:15pm as I was homeschooling, yet I was then organised, focused, determined, committed to doing my best.  The next day I found out that I won the Challenge which was exciting and I also won a $100 voucher.  

I love seeing my children meeting a Challenge too.  I remember last year when my son was trying to learn to hop and he kept trying and kept practicing and he was so proud of himself when he met the Challenge and I was so Joyful too.  And then the last few weeks my daughter, who is very competitive, like me too, was skipping and had a Challenge to skip backwards as many times as she could, and forwards too, and she was really happy at the effort she put in and the result she was getting as she kept practicing her skipping. 

And then the other day it was a tough day - it was definitely a Challenge - an unexpected parenting moment that involved a lot of cleaning.  When I went to bed that night, it would have been so easy to focus on the stress of the day - yet as I lay there in bed exhausted, drifting off to sleep, I realised that it can be about the perspective I choose – where what I achieved that day could be the same as any Challenge that I set myself - where I then had a great feeling of “Yes I did it” and I felt Joyful.