Day 1 – 45 Day Challenge

Hello, and welcome to the start of a new chapter in my life.

My name is Lauren and I have been struggling with bad anxiety and mental health problems for the better part of 5 years now, which obviously wasn’t fun. But I met my incredible partner Jacob in that time and he was so helpful and supportive whilst I figured my mental crap out and got back on track to the be the person I am today.

I have grown so much since meeting my partner, but one thing I recently noticed is that I tend to rely on him for help with everything…. he wakes me up every morning, helps me get out of bed when its cold, does the dishes for me when I forget, and feeds the dogs when I can’t be bothered. If there’s anything I need, I can count on him doing it for me. Obviously this is one of my favourite traits of his, but it’s become detrimental to my growth as a human.

So, to stop myself from entirely relying on him forever I decided to create a 45 Day plan of action, to make sure that I can still survive on my own.

1. Use my Bullet Journal Daily.
   I recently made a Bullet Journal for my lists, plans, habits and tracking multiple other things. Step 1 for my 45 day challenge is to use it daily, to make sure I’m keeping my own brain organised. This also implies using my personal writing journal daily as well, and my reading journal whenever possible.
2. No Phone Usage Prior to 9am Each Morning.
   Pretty self explanatory step in the process, but the point is to be a little less addicted to my phone. I’m still able to use other devices if need be, but mainly the news if I’m putting the TV on, or something educational or productive.
3. Maintain a clean and tidy home.
   This is a difficult step to judge if I’ve done each day, so the goal is to do at least 2 house chores each day, and to make sure I’m putting away anything I get out throughout the day.
4. Declutter 77 things across the whole house.
   This seems like it might be a lot, but in reality I could just go through my pens. I’m a reasonably simple person since moving out of home, so I don’t believe that it will be too difficult to do this. I’m hoping I’ll be able to smash this part of the challenge out within a weekend.
5. Yoga, Run or Walk Every Day.
   I’m a very unfit person, so I need to get on top of my health as soon as possible. I’ve never really been a runner, so I’d like to start that, but otherwise I’d like to do a Yoga/ Pilates Class (in person or a YouTube video from home) or walk with my dogs or partner each day.
6. Read 5 books (Including 2 Non-Fiction)
   I’ve got a 30 book goal for the year and I’m ahead of it, so out of all the steps this is the least important, the reason why I’ve put it on this list though, is because I know that once I get a job I might drop off in my reading productivity. I also burnt myself out reading too much over a short period of time, so I’ve got to keep up with the goal as much as possible.
7. Maintain an extremely strict Budget.
   I’ve created a budget of just our average weekly grocery cost, plus $100 for various other expenses. I’m not allowed any more books, or any clothing for myself. I don’t need anymore journaling or budgeting supplies, so I don’t see why I would need anymore then that for myself.
8. Meditate Every Morning.
   I believe meditation works better for me in the morning then it does in the afternoon, and I don’t regularly meditate even though I know I feel significantly better when I do. If I run out of time in the morning and do it before I go to sleep, I will still count it towards the challenge, but I know I need to make a concerted effort into doing it in the morning.
9. Shower or Brush my Teeth daily.
   I’m going to be completely honest in saying that I am an unhygienic person simply because I find tasks like this overwhelming and stressful. I need to learn to get these sorts of simple tasks done on my own without prompt from my partner. This is honestly going to be the most difficult of these tasks but I know its relatable to more people then you might think.
10. Lastly, Write a Blog Post Every Day.
    This is going to be the be all and end all of this challenge, I need to be doing this to keep track of my progress both in the actual tasks I’ve set for myself and the way the tasks are making me feel. If I don’t write this down and put in out into the world, I won’t know the actuality of what I’m doing and I’ll lose hope because I won’t be seeing the progress.

I’ve not shared the majority of these tasks with my partner, because I know that as soon as he is aware of them, but subconscious will expect him to be the one to remind me. I’m aware that some of these things are extremely simple and in reality I should already be doing them for myself, but the fact is that I’m not, so I need to keep myself in check by resetting my mentality to do with independence and happiness.

I know I’ve got this and I know that I can 100% get this 45 day challenge done first try, so lets get this done and lets be better people, at least I will and you can just come along for my journey.