The 30 Day Emotional Challenge

Recently, I discovered an interesting article on a financial blog titled “Kickstart New Habits with a 30 Day Challenge.” It lists some great ideas for trying to save money, reduce clutter, and earn more money.  I like this concept because it is a great way to try on a new habit to see whether it suits you.  This got me thinking about the emotional equivalent for the 30 day challenge.  What are some emotional habits that could be changed for 30 days? Here are 5 rough ideas:

1)If you feel that you don’t deserve love, pick out one trait that you like about yourself per day, and spend that day noticing just how lovable that trait is.  By the end of the challenge, you will have found 30 of your lovable traits.

2) If you eat emotionally, try once a day to notice what you are feeling when you eat more than you want to.  As you reach for the food,  ask yourself how you feel in that moment.  As you eat the food, notice what you are feeling.  Write down the food and the emotion.  Do this once a day for 30 days, and you will learn a whole lot about your relationship with food.

3) If you are in a relationship with someone who treats you badly, give yourself one hour a day to do something very kind for yourself that has nothing to do with your partner.  Are you able to treat yourself kindly for 30 hours in a month?

4) If you are someone who has a hard time noticing your feelings, get a journal.  Each day, spend at least 10 minutes writing about one emotion that you feel or have felt during that day.  Name the emotion, write about what might have triggered it, and how you experienced it.

5) If you tend to be the overwaterer or the underwaterer in your relationship (meaning you come forward far more or far less than your partner emotionally) choose to do the opposite once a day.  But first, tell your partner that this is your plan, and find out whether they’d like to try this challenge too.

The idea here is to try on a different behavior, to see if it helps you to change one that isn’t working for you, or to at least see it in a different light.  Happy experimenting!