Monthly: Stretch my boundaries through one new and challenging experience.

A new month, a new stretch. I’d like to be bolder this month. Bolder in movement, bolder in speaking my mind, bolder in enjoying my life. This month I’ll work on cutting free the contstraints that I tie to myself. At the end of May, I want to be a charging bull racing down the corridors of my life. Another abstract stretch, and I like it that way!

I have some irrational fears that I’m going to challenge in April, and let fly away forever. Two fears in particular: 1) my stove – that it’s still burning when I step out, and will burn down my home and get me sued since I live in an apartment, and 2) that I’ve forgotten to lock the door, leaving an open invitation for burglars to take…what, I don’t know. These are irrational fears because I’ve never left the stove idle nor have I ever forgotten to lock the door. These fears constantly cause me to run back to the house after I’ve stepped out.

Now that I’m thinking this through, it’s actually a double challenge: it’s not only dissolving these fears, but also being present in the moment. It’s only when I mindlessly do these things that I have pinches of anxiety trying to remember if I’ve done them.

April’s challenge will be setting these fears free and practice being present in all parts of my life.

Today was my first spontaneous act of the month: two hours before curtains went up, I bought a ticket to the play that I’ve been wanting to see. Instead of waiting for friends to go with I decided to just do it! When I called and found out there were only tickets in the last row available I hung up thinking I’d go some other time. Then something lit up inside me and turned on my excitement. “What the hell am I waiting for? Life is happening now!”, were the words in my head. And the play was great. The best part of all this was my feeling of excitement from living in the moment.

Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved. – John Keats

This will be my motto for March. I think, I ruminate, I analyze – a lot. I want to stop trying to figure it all out and dive into life: I want to flow with the currents of March. This is a carry over from my last month’s challenge of being spontaneous. There’s still no singular event or thing that I want for this month, except to fully live out these 31 days passionately. No excuses. The weather will be getting warmer, the days will be lit longer; so I have no more proper excuses not to inherit the earth.

This is turning out to be a fun, spontaneous month. Lots of last minute outings and unexpected touching moments. I’ve been to two book readings – who knew they could be so funny and engaging? Tomorrow I’m off to an exhibit that I’ve been looking forward to. And then after that, who knows?!

This month I’d like to stretch my mind and environment by purposefully walking into new experiences. I’ve gone full circle with this past part of my life, and a new circle is emerging which I’d like to start exploring. Specifically, I’m going to trek out to events that I’ve been intrigued with – gallery openings, theatre, etc – and open myself up to new people.

I joined this group late, and I’d still like to stretch myself by doing something new before the end of this month, which is this Wednesday! One thing that’s always been a challenge for me is meeting new people. I used to be very shy. Not so much anymore, but striking up a connection at will is daunting. My challenge would be to initiate a connection with someone new while I’m doing something that I enjoy. I dislike contrived situations where I’m forced to speak to people, so I’d like to be doing something that I genuinely enjoy. Hmmmm…I like doing, I like doing…Will have to give this some thought.