That quote comes from my favorite guide (You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life) and is highly appropriate coming off of the week of no complaints.

To ensure that I complained as little as possible, I hung notes for myself all around the house reminding myself it was no complaint week, as well as hanging it on my computer at work, and getting my coworkers to help call me out (which they found to be HIGHLY enjoyable hahaha).

CHALLENGE: Have at least one full week, 7 days, where you just allow yourself to be happy, not complain about anything, but relish on all the good in your life and around you – JEB

To be 100% honest, there were a few complaints in there (hey, it happens). However, they mostly had to do with (1) feeling ill on Tuesday, and (2) minor annoyances in daily life.

I did learn though that bitching about things is basically worthless talk. I mean really – how much does complaining REALLY get us? Unless you are complaining to a company about a service or something with a direct result, it mostly just hinders us. It drags down our mood.

The biggest realization has been that not complaining helps me to stay focused and happier than complaining ever did.

Maybe this seems obvious to ya’ll – but you should actually TRY to go a week without complaining. It will really have an impact then.

One of my close family friends, who runs a page called “Happy Sunday Ya’ll” put it perfectly:

It’s something we have all heard, but rarely sit and think about.

You get back what you put out into the world. So why not put happiness out there? Why not be grateful for all that you have been blessed with?

Yes, we all have our problems and issues in life – but if you’re reading this, you can’t be totally destitute.

So the next time you want to bitch, take a second and turn it around. Be grateful that that might be the worst thing going on in your life at that moment.

 

As for the other challenges, here’s how those are going:

COMPLETED

Get the haircut you’ve always wanted, but never thought you could pull off (you can!) – MM

This one I am altering slightly. I have no fear when it comes to getting my hair cut or colored – as evidenced by the pictures below.

However, I never thought that I would cut my hair myself.

That is, until a few weekends ago. I was just frustrated in my hair, it was bugging me with its length and weight, so I grabbed a pair of scissors and just cut off about 4-5 inches.

Lord, I wish I had had a camera to capture my husband’s face when he came into the bathroom! It takes a lot to shock my easy-going hubby, and his face was priceless!

I love it and it’s the perfect length for summer now – so I would say cutting my hair myself, on the spur of the moment, qualifies to complete this challenge!

 

ONGOING

Send a card to someone (as many different someones) every day. – MA [Working on it as of 6-25-16]

Still continuing to do this. Still sending postcards and letters to loved ones and friends 🙂 I love the thought of them getting little bits of love from me randomly.

 

PLANNING

Learn ASL (Learn a New Language) – SR, MK

Working on this one. I have a friend who is going to Skype with me to help me work on it, and I also plan on attending local meetups to practice.

I know the alphabet already, but I want to get much better!

 

Take an online class and learn to make your own greeting cards! – TH

Instead of just taking an online class (although I do have my eye on this one and this one from Brit + Co), I am also going to scour YouTube to help me with this.

I have a watercolor set and canvases that have been sitting in a drawer for a long time. It used to be that I would paint to get out my frustrations at one of my previous jobs. However, since I love my job now and things have been relatively happy – I haven’t felt the need to angry paint in awhile.

Therefore, I want to put those tools to good use and really learn to paint watercolor paintings (and maybe, eventually, greeting cards for the holidays?). I will be sharing pictures of these escapades on social media – so feel free to follow along 🙂

 

Read all of the books I own – Me [Working on it as of 6-20-16]

I have been on a reading SPREE lately. To the detriment of my sleep (oops) and cleaning (double oops). But it’s worth it to actually just enjoy the pleasure of a good book.

Since I will be continuing this challenge throughout the year, I have decided to make a page for my book reviews. I will also be sharing them on Goodreads and Litsy, if you want to join me over there.

I likely could spend every post just discussing the books I read, so to make things easier, I will give them their own section 🙂 Feel free to join me under Bitchin’ Books for all the highlights.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON ONE OTHER CHALLENGE

Strengthen relationships formed throughout your life. – KBH

This challenge is something I am working on today! One of my good friends from college, with whom I had drifted apart from post-graduation, had a reunion of sorts last year.

When I was going through my own personal hell, she reached out and helped me in a myriad of ways – despite us not having talked in years.

That compassion and caring are proof of the good people in this world, and I am ECSTATIC that her and I are about to be reunited today at a sporting event!

This is a challenge I am going to work to cultivate as the entire year of challenges goes on. However, it is one that is so important in today’s ever-evolving, digitized world.

We all have people that we wish we had kept in contact with. That meant a lot to us when we were close. And we likely have the means to be reunited with them again if we wanted.

Chances are, you could reach out to them on Facebook or via text. So why not do it?

You may think it’s been too long. Or they won’t want to hear from you. Or that you’ll have nothing to say.

But why let that hold you back?

Last year, my friend could have easily thought those things. And yet, she still reached out to me and it meant the world. It made a horrible time in my life less awful to know that she cared, even after all this time.

Do that for someone. Be that for someone.

Everyone could use a kind word or a little extra love in their life. Go ahead and spread a little bit of happiness today. It will cost you nothing and will only send good out into the world.

Until next time!

Always,

Amanda