June 1, 2015, was the start of something pretty amazing, something beyond my wildest dreams!
You can read more about it HERE, but last year around this time, I had the idea to create a challenge where we committed to empowering ourselves through a daily practice of doing something that fills our soul and makes us feel strong and joyful. feeling. So often in our lives today, we just go through our to-do list and our tasks and aren’t really present and truly living our lives. When we do something everyday to fill recharge and reconnect, we have the ability to realize our potential and feel fully empowered, and we can create a life that is exactly one that we love, that fills us with joy, purpose, passion and love!
In May of 2015, I announced the 30 days in 30days Challenge, not knowing what would happen, who would join in and to my delight and surprise, over 140 women signed up for the Joyful Warrior Facebook group and many more participated on twitter and Instagram. It was absolutely amazing! And the fun continues on the Joyful Warrior Facebook group, we have formed a solid community made up of women around the world, supporting and encouraging each other in their daily lives. It has become an empowering movement, that is awesome beyond my wildest dreams!
So I knew we had to continue the momentum and even infuse more excitement with another Joyful Warrior 30 days in 30days challenge, and I am changing things up just a bit this year! The 2016 Joyful Warrior #30in30 is all about being Joyful and being fully empowered!
Ok, what do I mean by empowered? Well, being fully empowered means something different for everyone, but I think a there are a few empowerment truths that resonate for us all (most of us at least) and these are the ones I want to focus on during this month.
1st – We must practice feeling powerful to be empowered.
I believe that loving and honoring your body through activity and good nutrition is one of the greatest and simplest ways to empower yourself on a daily basis. When we feel good in our bodies, we feel good and we have more energy to take action in our lives and be our best. Also, exercising in it self is the act of creating strength, and it’s an opportunity to win (be successful) on a regular basis (read more about this here). Give yourself the opportunity to win on a regular basis and you will feel more confident in your body, but this also creates powerful momentum is other important areas of your life.
Another very important piece of personal empowerment is honoring your needs beyond exercise and nutrition, like getting enough sleep, rest and relaxations…and having FUN! When you recharge a battery, you must infuse energy to allow it to function and for us energy often comes in the form of doing something fun that we love and enjoy. That could be dancing, singing, painting, meeting up with friends, going for a walk (just for fun), or going to a movies. There are so many possibilities, so be creative!
2nd – Grow and Get out of your comfort zone.
As humans we thrive on growth and change, this is our natural state of being. But growth requires that we push our own boundaries and get out of our comfort zone. There are so many examples of this in lives. For example, Our bones and muscles grow stronger, only when they are under force, like through exercise, movement or weight lifting. When we exercise we get stronger, if we don’t exert force on our bodies, our muscles and bones become weaker (move it our lose it) . Another example is our minds. We can increase our IQ, EQ, and critical thinking skills and by creating new thoughts, ideas and pushing our minds to develop new ways of thinking and learning, by engaging in activities like learning new languages, music, and using our bodies in new ways like (exercise). If we don’t engage our mind in new ways, we actually lose neural pathways and can even have brain degeneration. So we must constantly challenge ourselves to stretch, try new things and grow. This growth can happen in a variety of ways by reading books that challenge us, practicing and learning new skills like math, music or languages, and chaneleging our minds to create new movements in our bodies by learning new dances, exercises like Yoga. Growth can even happen while engaging in known activities, just changing them up, like adopting spring training, pushing your Yoga practice, learning a new song on the piano, or trying out a new art method. Soooo many possibilities.
3rd – Giving and Connecting.
Simply put, we thrive together. We are social creatures and we crave connection, inclusion and acceptance (this is different than conforming). We want to be valued and liked and we want to value and like others. But for us to be our best, it’s not enough for us to connect with just anyone, its important to connect and surround ourselves with people who we love, admire and help us be better. John Rohn said “You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with”. If you want to make changes in your life, you may need to start by changing some of the people in your life. Do you want to be fitter and healthier? Then surround yourself with fit, healthy people; join a gym, spend time there and make friends there. Do you want to be an successful entrepreneur, surround yourself with successful entrepreneurs, join some networking groups. If you want to be happier, surround yourself with happy, positive people.
Part of this change and connection equation, is creating change in yourself. Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world” So whatever you looking for in your life, be that and give that to other people. When we give of our selves and our gifts, without expectation of receiving, we will get so much more in return! Giving.
So these 3 Empowerment principles will be the intention of this 30day Challenge
- Empowerment through Self-love and Self-care: – Commit to honoring yourself everyday through activity, healthy food and recharging (enough sleep, R&R and having FUN!).
- Some days, you will be able to do all these things, and some days you will only be able to do one, but set goals, honor them and listen to your body!
- Grow and Thrive Commit to pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Try something new that you have wanted to try… Salsa lessons, basket weaving, Yoga, Meditation, Surfing, cycling, running, joining a new faith community, reading about growing fruit trees…what ever it is, allow yourself to be uncomfortable, because that is where the growth happens!
- Growth happens in big and small ways, so allow yourself to be challenged everyday during this 30days. I’m not saying you have to try something new everyday, just push yourself in whatever you are doing.
- Give and Connect – Commit to connecting with like-minded people during this 30days, this could be through the Facebook group, it should also be in your community (this may be an opportunity to do #2 also!). Cultivate a community of supporters and cheerleaders, that help you and challenge you to be the best you can be! Spread Kindness and so good deeds, set the intention at the being of this month, to spread kindness and giving around you like seeds at every opportunity.
- Giving can happen in big and small ways also, you can bring cookies to a fire station or organize a clothing drive, or you can just focus on making someone’s day brighter everyday.
Basically, if I were to sum up this challenge in a small statement:
You are setting an intention to be the greatest version of yourself during these 30 days!
Here are the Deets!
What:
- Create a “Greatest Me Version” plan for yourself, starting June 1, 2016 start living it!
- You should engage in some form of physical or emotional strengthening and loving-kindness every day. Here are some examples: physical activity (walking, running, biking, weight lifting, swimming…etc), Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Prayer, Prayer, Meditation, Daily mantras, being in nature, having fun. Spread kindness around (do good deeds, go out of your way to make people feel special) and connect with your peeps, both online and in person. Allow these things to challenge you, so you will grow and change. This may seem like a huffy challenge and it is, but the goal is to change your life, and that never comes without effort, but focus on adding these things into your daily routine now.
- The Goal is to push yourself to be The Best Version of You for 30days, if you stay committed, I think you will find that you are a different person on July 1 then you were on May 1!
How:
- How to Post: Post on your own Instagram, Twitter or Facebook pages (or all three), tag me and include the hash tags #Joyfulwarrior and #30in30. It’s going to be awesome! I will be posting everyday, but you don’t have to document online everyday if you don’t want to, but do it as much as you can! It will really add to spirit of the challenge to see each other succeeding everyday! You will inspire people through your determination and progress. And we all want to share in your success and cheer you on! But if you are too shy to share the pictures on social media that’s fine, do it the challenge anyway…and maybe this is a good opportunity to push yourself and create growth! I and your fellow Joyful Warriors will there to cheer you on and stand in your corner, so share your awesomeness with the world!
- Join the Joyful Warrior Facebook group, so you can connect with other Joyful Warriors and cultivate your tribe! It would be great if you spend time on the group, cheerleading and inspiring each other!
- Let me know you are #allin for the #30in30dayschallange on my Instagram, Twitter or Facebook pages. It would be really cool if you could post your picture and post your Best Version of You Plan…stating intentions out loud puts some skin in the game, creates momentum and allows up to be your accountability partners in this.
- Share the Love my friends! I want this movement to #empower, #strengthen and #inspire as many people as possible. So please spread the word, invite your friends to the party!
- Starting June 1 document your progress on Instagram, Twitter and/or Facebook and tag me so I can see how awesome you are and share it (if possible).
- Last but not least, Have fun!
Why:
- Because I know you are awesome and I want you to know it too!
- When we are better, the world is better. I beleive in our power and greatness!
- Everything is easier and more fun with friends and people in your corner, cheering you on. Let’s be there for each other! #inspiration
- Because these things are always more fun with friends!
- And Because when we grow, shine and strength ourselves, we make the world a better place. We are all in this together, let’s make it good
So who’s #allin? Let me know in the comments below and in on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!
I can’t wait for you to Join the party, his is going to be amazing!
See you June 1st!
Don’t forget to share this post and challenge with your friends, the more the merrier!
lots of love,
Sally
