Background

Having just come off an interesting and successful journaling challenge in March, I was challenged by Jen to write a thank you letter to a different person every single day for the month of April! It was a beautiful challenge, really, and one which would encourage me to open up, be more conscious of the wonderful people in my life, and generally be a more grateful person. Nice idea, Jen!

How Did It Go?

It started out pretty well. I reached out to my immediate family and then branched out to friends and co-workers who I was especially grateful to have in my life. It did feel nice opening up a letting people know how important they were to me in my life, and the love I received in return was equally lovely.

All that being said, I was beginning the busy season in my work and eventually I forgot a day and had to make it up. Then I missed another, and then another. I eventually missed enough to the point that in my own head the month was already a failure, so why even continue?!? Clearly, that was the wrong mentality and I missed the point of the challenge… which was for me to be a more thankful person in general and one who maintains strong relationships with the people who are important to him.

Successful?

Sadly, this challenge was unsuccessful by the terms we set up. I did not write a thank you card/letter every day, and by the end I had totally given up on the challenge.

Learning from My Failures

Looking back, however, I have been able to learn much from this challenge. First, I am conscious of the fact that I did not create a well-balanced lifestyle for myself in the month of April. I worked too much and did not dedicate enough time for my personal goals such as dancing, exercising, language learning, writing (thank you cards), etc… Because of that my personal life suffered. My work is important to me and I do enjoy it, but I need to make sure I am creating enough free time to be able to enjoy all that life has to offer.

What’s Next?

May will continue to be a very busy time for me at work; therefore, I have reprioritized what is most important to me at this point in my life and will be making sure that I am working to achieve those select goals. As for the monthly challenges, Jen has graciously challenged me to learn Portuguese this month!!! This challenge will ensure that I am spending time each day doing something I enjoy, learning languages. Most importantly, it will challenge me to spend time on the things I enjoy doing instead of being a work-a-holic who downs himself in his work and sacrifices his personal and social life for professional success.