I’m blogging my way through Crystal Paine’s Say Goodbye to Survival Mode 7-Day Challenge. Join me, and you’ll get a daily email from her with information about how to start getting your life back, including a new challenge each day to help you along! Sign up here!
I made it to the end! Today’s challenge was to make a list of things I enjoy and reward myself with one of them for completing this challenge!
Small rewards for a daily job well done are a great way to motivate yourself to stay on track with your goals all along the way – not just at the end of the journey. Even though productivity and progress have been our goals on this 7-Day Challenge, life is still a gift to be enjoyed. It is important to keep that in mind and not treat it as an opportunity to do as much as humanly possible without taking time for ourselves and our own renewal. Living a life of purpose and intention also includes being intentional with your leisure.
One small thing I’ve started doing is sweeping the house every single night. {Remember when I told you I wasn’t any good at housekeeping? I wasn’t kidding.} Since beginning that habit, I’ve made a commitment to myself that I will not sit down on the couch after dinner until that task has been accomplished.
Is sitting a reward? I don’t know, but it’s kept me motivated to get my sweeping done!
But that wasn’t my reward for finishing the challenge. For that, I did something a little more relaxing.
Up until the time my second child was born, I enjoyed time to myself by sitting in the backyard with a book and a cold drink during Conlan’s naptime. I recall savoring the warmth of the sun on my face, the quietness of the afternoon, and the peace of being able to completely relax and be “off duty” while he slept. That opportunity for mid-afternoon peace has ended now that my oldest no longer naps and we have added a second child, but I still long for the ability to do that. This afternoon, while my children played happily together, I had a thought.
They are occupied. They don’t need me. I could go unload the dishwasher.
But instead, I chose my reward. It was my moment, my opportunity.
So I lounged in the chair in my backyard, just as I used to. I didn’t have a book, but I closed my eyes and felt the sun on my face and said a prayer of thanks for these perfect moments and for ten glorious minutes, I allowed myself to just be.
It was a reward well earned.
Thank you for joining me on this journey out of Survival Mode! How did you reward yourself for completing the challenge?
