There's Still Time to Start Your September Challenge

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It’s just the second day of the month. Plenty of time to start your monthly challenge. Are you still searching for ideas? How about:

• Walk one mile a day? Could also be a run, jog, swim, or hike daily challenge.

• Watch one Criterion Channel movie a day?

• Walk the dog once a day (we have four dogs in our pack currently, so I could take this challenge x4)?

• Make a mixtape (or CD or digital playlist) a day?

• Eat a pancake a day? Now you’re talking, though if I took this challenge, I may be advised to combine it with the walk-a-mile (or two or three) challenge a day.

Sometimes, getting up and moving forward each day is enough of a challenge to accomplish, especially lately.

September Challenges?

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Are you ready for a challenging September?

• Poem a day?

• Haiku a day?

• 900 words a day?

• Letter a day?

• Photo a day?

• Photo of a dog a day?

• #MakeTea video of the day?

• Record and post an inspirational message a day?

• Essay a day?

• 20 push ups a day?

• New recipe a day?

What’s your challenge chioce?

Or does September promise to be challenging enough on its own?

Back to Go Again

Photo by Pedro Santos on Unsplash

Early in our marriage when we still lived in Ohio, Susan and I took a long weekend trip to downtown Chicago. During a cab ride to dinner, we engaged in lively conversation in the backseat, probably making plans for a visit to Navy Pier or one or another museum the next day. The cab driver found an opportunity to join in.

“You know,” he said, “life is like a game of Monopoly. No matter where you go or how far you travel, you always end up back to go again.”

We all laughed, but that insight has stuck with Susan and me for nearly 30 years. In fact, it’s become one of our marriage mantras. We run into a challenge, Take on a project. Start a new job. And one way or another it feels like “we’re back to go again.”

Instead of viewing this as a negative, like I’m stuck in a rut or I can’t move forward. I tend to view it as a positive. And I think that’s what our cab-driver philosopher intended.

By declaring “I’m back to go again,” I’ve acknowledged that I’ve made it around the board. Maybe I’ve collected $200. At the very least, I’ve gained wisdom and experience that will make my next trip around more fun and fruitful. This “back to go again” approach also helps ground and reset me when I face a big or unexpected challenge.

We drove back to Cincinnati from our wonderful Chicago adventure only to be greeted by a for-sale sign in the front yard of the home we rented. Our landlords had decided to sell and hadn’t bothered to tell us. We found ourselves, not for the last time, back to go again.