on the nature of challenges....

So today is the 100th day of the 100 day Happy Moment challenge. Completed successfully, including photos. Looking forward to that free photo book (will not hold breath). As challenges go, this one wasn’t particularly strenuous. Just some thought and the discpline of a daily task. A talent for stage management helps, and that I have in spades. What I enjoyed most was the mix of moments, from the excitng to the mundane. It has certainly been a great 100 days and brings up the age old conundrum, did the act of observation enhance them, or was this a true representation of my life? A pointless debate really, as what is done is done, but a lovely excuse to capture a particular time in my life. Curious if I were to repeat this exercise in say, two years, would the images and text be at all similar. Would 100 days at a different time of year yield a different life? No major holidays or birthdays in this one, but certainly the busiest time of year socially for both adults and children. A challenge I would happily take up again, but don’t worry dear reader, not anytime soon.

Have been watching the Commonwealth Games. Now those are serious challenges. Couldn’t help but notice that the medal winning athletes answered the question “how do you celebrate,” in the same way. “Ice Bath.” Yikes. That alone would keep me from elite level competition (ha ha, as if that were the only thing). The dedication these young men and women have for their sport is incredible. And inspiring. Not just the training part, but the sacrifice part. I would imagine their 100 happy days would look nothing like mine…a lot more pain and “don’t”s as opposed to endless pleasure and “done.” But of course that is why they are standing atop a podium in Glascow and I am admiring them from a couch in Wandsworth. 

And maybe that is why so many of us get involved in charity work. Because it is something set apart from the rest of our lives. For most of us, myself included, my day to day living would not change if I chose not to build a library or raise money for WWTW. But my mindset might. I need that act of accomplishment. I need that sense of “I’ve done that,” to feel whole. I am certainly never going to be interviewed on television about running. I probably won’t be mentioned for my charity work either. But I know. And that is enough. 

Thank you for all your help and support.