Back on the first of March, I decided to take Steve’s challenge to blog something worthwhile every single  day of the month. That is 31 consecutive posts. Some of the posts I was happy with – usually the ones written straight from my mind to the blog at 11pm with little editing – and sometimes I felt like a blog-spammer – almost ashamed to post the words and cringed as I hit the publish button. I admit, that I did take on the challenge for selfish reasons, and not to please the people who actually read my blog. But I am hoping that in the end more people than just myself benefited from the words that I shared.

Back in that first post I wrote what I hoped to get out of the month. I wanted to feel connected, challenged, slightly overwhelmed and empowered. And I actually do think that I ticked all those boxes.

Connected

To my environment. To my thoughts. To the constant change in my life. To the other 42 people blogging for the 31 days of March.

Although I had a back up list of possible topics to blog about I actually never used it. I always wrote about experiences that I had or connections that I made during the day. I wrote about having a perfect day in San Francisco, the power of your mind and why it is great to hang out with friends in real life and talk to strangers. Sharing these thoughts made me feel connected.

Challenged

To share something worthwhile every day. To channel my thoughts into something that doesn’t only sound good in my head. To post at midday, every day, for 31 days.

Although I failed miserably at posting at mid-day I did write a blog everyday and I did feel challenged. Whether this was from writing the blog specifically or just the general challenges that occurred during my everyday life throughout the month of March. I did often find myself saying to people ‘sorry I am late, I had to write my blog’. Many of the posts reflected my thoughts on being challenged. I wrote about how without a mental or physical challenge you will stay exactly as you are, how you feel when you lack motivation, and why you should think about what you have done not what you haven’t.

Slightly overwhelmed

There is a fine balance between being overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Somewhere in between is where energy for great ideas and the momentum to get things done collide. I hope I land there with this challenge.

Writing things down forces you to reflect on what you experience, feel, and think. And which parts of these you are comfortable with and which parts make you feel overwhelmed. I have always thought a lot, but writing everyday clarified a lot of those thoughts. I wrote about feeling confused by my relative work speed, the lack of business evolution and how great it is to take time out, feel proud and tell people how great they are.

Empowered

To post my thoughts, opinions, beliefs and values out in the public for response, debate and to sit there quietly unread too.

Expressing your honest and independent thoughts can be daunting. But there is something exhilarating about hitting publish on something that you know certain people won’t agree with. I wrote about why I think it is great to wear lycra with the work crowd, move back in with your parents, make up your own mind and bring your care-free travel self to work. They were slightly controversial ideas. And they felt great.

So after 31 days I still like challenges and I still like blogging. I guess that means more of each to come. Sounds good to me.

Thanks for reading. If you did get this far, I would love to know if there was a certain post that resonated with you. Is there something that I wrote that you remember?