Let us all have a fresh start

Hello beautiful people!

I know this is a long post but please take a moment to read it and accept and please share the challenge to see how many of us can complete it! Anyone can participate. YOU WILL THANK YOUR SELF FOR DOING IT! We always have room for improvement to better our selfs not only with our physical appearance but more importantly our mind and soul 😊

If you do accept the challenge and post pictures or updates on some days please use #healthymomchallenge #freshstartchallenge #julyfreshstart #30daychallenge

I have always been fascinated by minimalists. Those are the people that have a lifestyle of owning just the essentials, in other words living your life with only the things you need. But its truly its more than that. It is marked by clarity, purpose, and intentionality. At its core, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. It is a life that forces intentionality. And as a result, it forces improvements in almost all aspects of your life. I have been “cleansing” my belongings gradually (especially my closet) in the hopes of learning and adjusting to this type of life style. I always admired people that can pack for 7 days in a carry on and look fabulous and effortless all the time. But material things are not the only things minimalist master to live without, they free their minds more, and live a much stressful life. Minimalism is not external but internal. It helps people find freedom from external clutter, it does not take the next step of helping people find freedom and unity in their heart and soul. I could write days about this and if you are interested for me to tell you more about this leave a comment below. Like I said I am not there yet but have done some research and wish to achieve this goal. I am starting a 30 day challenge in July and would like to invite you my dear readers to try it out with me.

One and only rule is: Do one assignment every day, it does not need to be in order. Don’t skip a day. That’s it.

You can print out here July 2015 Challenge.

July 2015

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
			1	2	3	4
			Mediated for 15 min	Stay offline for one day	No-complaint day	Clean out your closet
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
No electronics at all. NONE	Don’t wear makeup	Go for a walk alone.	Journal for 5-15 minutes	Identify your stress triggers	Clear our your drawers/junk drawers	Plan a local trip
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Be grateful	Clean out your makeup collection	Clean your makeup brushes	Clean up your social media	Write down your goals	Change your bedtime routine	Evaluate your last 3 purchases
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Let go of something.	Change your morning routine	Write down your priorities	Call a family member	Create a reading list	Do not eat/drink anything bad today	Leave this day unplanned
26	27	28	29	30	31
Reorganize a room	NO social media until evening	Volunteer for something	Call an old friend	One thing at a time

1. Meditate for 15 minutes I have mentioned that I have stated meditation after my car accident. I use the app HeadSpace on my iPhone. It is simple to use and it truly does help. I have been doing it for 5 minutes daily but will need to squeeze and extra 10 minutes and do it for 15. I find it very helpful.
2. Stay offline for one day On our recent vacation I did not have wifi in our room, I did not want to purchase it so that we did not log online. Many of us spend more time looking down into our phones rather than the world around us. I was offline couple of day. I spent 2 days of 5 minute quick message checking from family at home and just to say we are ok and check on them. Other than that 7 days offline and nothing changed….I mean absolutely nothing. Everything was still the same. You will not miss anything but will rest your eyes and brain from social media drama.
3. No-Complaint day This day try not to complain at all. Complaining is never productive. Complaining makes our thoughts even more negative which hurts us and the people that are listening to us. It’s a ripple effect. If you find your self complaining simply think of another way to solve the problem or let it go. Ask people that are around you if you are complaining to stop you, sometimes we don’t even know when we are doing it.
4. Clean out your closets Clean out your wardrobe closet and any other closet you have time to clean J. For your clothes start by picking 10 pieces you absolutely could not be without. Look at it this way, if you had to evacuate your house quickly pick 10 items you absolutely must have and put those aside. Rest of the clothes sort them out and really think about when was the last time you wore them and if you really will wear it. Donate the clothes if you have not worn it in the last year because you simply will not wear it.
5. No electronics at all Today the challenge is not to have any electronics at all. No tv, no phone or phone camera and no computer. Tell your family that you will not be reachable unless it’s an emergency not to call you. Go out with your spouse and family and do something fun, go to the pool, park, ice cream shop, anything. You do not have take pictures of this either to post online, just simply ENJOY it your self.
6. Do not wear make up This is totally a challenge for me because of having really bad adult acne skin issues but I will be a trooper and do it J We may discover many of the products we usually plaster on in daily we actually do not need.
7. Go for a walk alone I do this often and I enjoy it. Take a walk alone, you can do it during lunch or before work even after work if you can find time. You can listen to music but do not browse or talk on your phone. This is to clear your mind.
8. Journal for 5-15 minutes Writing things down is very therapeutic. I always joke that people that over share personal info on social media should get a journal but in all honesty it is really true. Personal stuff should be kept personal, if you are frustrated, happy or sad you should put the pen to paper and see how much better you will feel afterwards. I highly recommend this five minute journal that has been put together by Alex Ikonn over at FiveMinuteJournal. It is brilliant and easy and you will find a lot of positivity out of it.
9. Identify your stress Pinpoint your stress. Try taking notes of your stress levels and activities throughout your day, then read the notes and try to think about what you could do to prevent and counteract them in the future. For example, if you are stressed out because of traffic every day simply understand that it is something you can not change unless you can change your route. Instead try to listen to music, jam out to your favorite songs or listen to an audio book. It’s not worth the stress or negative thoughts about something that can not be changed.
10. Clean out your junk drawers, dresser drawers or any other drawers J Just clean it all out, its called junk drawer for a reason. De-clutter your home and keep only the necessary things. You will find that most of the time we do not even open these drawers, we just do not need or use things out of them. CLEAN THEM OUT.
11. Plan a local trip Plan an all day trip to a place you usually would not find your self going to. For example if you are not nature lover plan a trip to a state park. I promise you that you will find at least one thing that you enjoy…a view, a waterfall, people watching…
12. Be grateful Be mindful and appreciate the little things (and big) that are already part of your life. Do not be consumed by social pressure of what you need to have. There are many people that do not even have clean water so I am sure whatever situation you are in is better than some. Be happy, be thankful, and be humble. Write a list of everything or anyone you are grateful for.
13. Clean out your make up collection Now ladies, we all have those 5 things we probably use daily (foundation, bronzer/blush, eyeliner and mascara…maybe a lipstick or two). Do we really need 500 eye shadows??? Natural is the best. Buy a palate that works for your complexation and eye color, everything else is unnecessary junk.
14. Clean your make up brushes Your brushes should be cleaned technically after every use but I know none of us really do. I soak then take my brushes into the shower with me once a week and give them a deep clean (hair wash). Its pointless to use expensive makeup and creams for our face and plaster it on with overgrowth of bacteria on our brushes.
15. Clean up social media How many of you actually know your friends on social media? Be a little more selective on who you follow and who you allow to see your pages and your personal pictures. Do you really need to be friends with friend of a friend, or people you have not seen or spoken to in years?
16. Write down your goals Do you have any personal goal or family goals you would like to achieve? Write them down, discuss them and actually take action in achieving them.
17. Change your bedtime routine Change something about your bedtime routine. Prepare your lunch or meals for the next day so morning routine is smoother. Have cup of calming tea before bed, instead of browsing your tablet or your phone listen to relaxing music. Read a book, or read a book to your child. Have a pillow talk with your spouse.
18. Evaluate your last 3 purchases We are all guilty of mindless spending. Think about your last 3 purchases and think about how useful they turned out to be. Learning to only buy necessary things is the key to living a simpler life.
19. Let go of something
    Letting go of something is hard, but sometimes holding on to something is even harder. Think about something you are holding on to and then free your self.
20. Change your morning routine
    Instead of immediately checking your email or social media, meditate workout or journal.
21. Write down your priorities Write down your priorities in life and evaluate. Take a really close look and see if your priorities are in order, maybe discuss it with your spouse or loved one and you never know some priorities may change for the better.
22. Call a family member Call a family member that you have not spoken to in a while. Family is very important and talking to a cousin or aunt/uncle you have not spoken to in a while may just be what your soul needs.
23. Create a reading list Create a reading list even if you are not a reader. Start at least one book and read half way through it before you quits, there is high chance you will continue to read the book and enjoy it.
24. Do not eat or drink anything bad for a day Today’s challenge is to have a completely clean day. You can not drink anything artificial, you can have water, coffee or tea. No artificial sugar, fast food, eating out or prepackaged. At the end of the day you will realize that today you probably had much more energy and focus than on days you are not eating clean.
25. Leave this day unplanned For once leave Saturday unplanned. Do not plan anything ahead and just see what the day brings with your family.
26. Reorganize a room Spruce up a room in your home, maybe your family room or bedroom. De-clutter and rearrange furniture if possible. Sometimes the change is very welcome and creates a more relaxing environment. If most of your surface space is covered evaluate if you really need everything in the room and clear it out, I promise you less is more. Change up the room colors, try to find a color palate that is relaxing for you.
27. No social media until evening Another great day to be social media free. Today instead of spending time on social media to see what your friends are up to maybe call them (not text) and meet up for coffee, lunch or dinner. Be social in real life. You may not even feel the need to check it at night.
28. Volunteer With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, the benefits of volunteering are enormous to you, your family, and your community. The right match can help you find friends, reach out to the community, learn new skills, and even advance your career. Volunteering with your kids is even more fun. Children watch everything you do and I have posted about this before. By giving back to the community, you show them firsthand how volunteering makes a difference and how good it feels to help others.
29. Call an old friend A lot of us like to communicate through social media and text messages that we have forgotten what our friends sound like. Sometimes you just need to hear your friend’s voice, kind words and a smile. Some time catching up will bring up old memories and leave you both in a good mood.
30. One thing at a time Our lives are so busy, from the moments our alarm goes off to the moment we go to bed we are constantly multi tasking. I challenge you to practice doing one task at a time. Take a breather. Do not move onto the to the next task or even think about it until the first one is completed. This alone will reduce a great amount of stress.