100 Days

Image found at freedigitalphotos.net

You may have seen the article over at yahoo about the woman who committed to working out for 100 days and what happened for her over that 100 day time period.  She was certainly better off in more ways than one, by the time that 100 days had passed.

Inspirational type videos and such don't always do much for me.  I feel that in the internet world a lot of that stuff is overblown and just annoying.  What can I say?  I''m not always the touchy/feely sort.  Especially when I feel a story, pictures, etc. is being done for reasons that are other than noble (reasons that scream 'look at me', 'I need attention', 'no, seriously, look at me!').  Sometimes though, I do find myself a bit inspired by something I've seen.  Sometimes things feel genuine enough to make me wonder how this person's experience could affect me and my life.

This time around I'm thinking I'll take this woman's 100 day experience and convert it into something I can use for myself.  Something a little different than the usual New Years resolution type fare. 

Since I feel 100 days is doable for just about anything, and I'm curious as to how this type of approach could work for something I've been thinking about doing anyway, I'm going to attempt 100 days straight of a good skin care regimen.

This may sound silly.  For me, skin care has always been an issue.  My skin is not the typical commercial worthy terrible and yet it has been not a lot of fun for a very long time.  Yes, at very nearly 40 I am still dealing with occasional acne breakouts and have had this problem since way before I was a teenager.  I have tried so many things and most have been way too harsh and didn't really help.  However, by chance and by listening to a good friend who works in the skin care field, I have realized that if I can just stick with a good cleansing and light moisturizing routine I can improve my facial outlook dramatically.  And since I am turning 40 I would like to finally get this issue under control.  I'm just not so good at sticking with the routine.  As soon as I get things looking better, I kind of 'forget' to keep it up.

Isn't it funny how we forget to do things for ourselves? 

It is hard for me to do the little things that mean taking care of me.  This is one small thing that I feel could make a big difference for me and that I deserve to take the time to do for myself.

What about you?  What would you like to attempt to do for 100 days?  Would you be willing to take the time to do it?  Does 100 days seem like a long time to you?

Do It NOW!!!

My husband and I belong to a really fun dance club.  Ours is the largest club of its kind in the area and they have many silly traditions that add to the enjoyment of belonging to the club.  One of the traditions that happens at almost every dance our club holds is: 'do it now'.

Basically what happens is that whatever is happening on the dance floor, when somebody yells out 'do it now!', then everybody immediately does one big giant spin- all together.  It's a pretty amazing moment to see and always adds a moment where you just can't help but smile.

This past weekend, as I was going about doing the little things that I have promised myself that I will do to get my house totally ship shape in case I might like to put it up for sale at any coming moment, I got to thinking about 'do it now'.  (I often do my best thinking while doing mundane tasks.  It's one of the reasons that I sometimes love mundane tasks.  That and you can usually see real progress real fast.  Anyway...)

I ended up thinking that 'do it now' should probably be initiated into just about every aspect of life.

I mean, who couldn't use a good reason to shake things up and put a smile on their face?!  Just for stopping for a moment and getting silly, like putting a fun little spin into your day- for really no reason at all...

And on top of that idea, there is always the literal translation of all those things we mean to do and plan on doing for way longer than it actually takes to do them.  And then when we finally do those things, we are amazed at how quick and easy they are and what a nice change ensues.  In other words, you can often get a lot of bang for your buck out of doing something easy and then stand back and admire your work and enjoy!

Like me:  this past weekend I dragged out one of those paint cans that we all keep around and did that touch up work on those scuffed walls that so many of us look at with disdain and swear to do something about when we get around to it.

Now my walls have gone from looking something like this:

Credit: scrumalliance.org

To a lot more like this:

Credit: hotpinkcombatboots.com

(Not pictures of my house, but you get the idea...)

Lovely, fresh and clean!  Sometimes a small change can make a huge difference.  So I say, DO IT NOW!!!