30 Day Challenge – Page 2

A Month of Being Mindful

April 30, 201530 Day Challenge, LifeLeave a Comment

Happiness is this Oreo Iced Capp at Timmies

Today is officially the last day of my 30 days of no complaining challenge. While it was literally impossible to eliminate all complaining the month taught me to be more mindful of other people as well as play a more active role in solving problems. Honestly, I don’t know if it was the climb out of winter depression or this exercise but I had a very happy month of April.

I had less worries, but as a person that has suffered from anxiety/depression, being worry-free is simply impossible. I just focused my energy into getting things done or allowing myself more time to relax when needed. There was less of that in between period of pondering to myself or someone else whether I should or should not be doing something. Relevant to this, I read the following phrase in Amy Poehler’s Yes Please and instantly fell in love:

“The talking about the thing isn’t the thing. The thing is the thing.”

It’s the best because it implies dealing with the problem head on rather than complaining. It’s a phrase I need to write on a piece of wood and hang on the wall.

This was a great exercise to have for a month, but I am unsure if I am going to continue the same way. I will for sure be mindful and determined to find solutions but the occasional bout of unloading is not only satisfying, I believe it’s healthy. It’s day 30 and I am having the biggest tension headache and I think the biggest cause is not being able to actively off-load some negative emotions for an entire month. I’m sure I can sleep it off and tomorrow will be a new month and mark the challenge’s end!

Anyways, I tried that ridiculous Microsoft thing and I got 20 so no complaints here…

15 Days of No Complaining

April 15, 201530 Day Challenge, Inspiration, Life1 Comment

Being mindful of others is important, just like in a game of Chinese Checkers!

As you know from my previous post, I am trying not to complain for the entire month of April. I am only half way into the month and it’s been a long and arduous journey. Complaining is so natural in our nature. Sometimes I don’t even notice it until after. I realize some relationships with other people are built entirely on complaining and this isn’t healthy.

I’ve observed how much myself and others complain on a daily basis. In the course of an hour, this can be hundreds of times. I haven’t completely eliminated it but I’ve become more mindful. Instead of complaining about someone, I’d consider other people’s perspective more when they did something that annoyed me. I’d also became more aggressive in taking actions to prevent things I’d later perceive as problems.

I participated in less gossip and in return people gossiped to me less. At first I felt a little bit left out, but keeping a positive outlook has actually made me a much happier, better (in my mind) person.

100 Days of Blogging

April 10, 201530 Day Challenge, Inspiration, Life2 Comments

I can’t believe that I’ve been blogging for 100 consecutive days in 2015 so far! It’s a goal that my best friend and I have both achieved together. In past years, we tried blogging for a month but always failed. Now to reach 100 days is definitely an achievement. We’re not quitting either. Let’s see if we can hit 365 (or more)!

I’ve learned a lot in these 100 days. I’m now less critical about what I put out. Having to post things occasionally leads me to take a bit more risks, and not be so worried if others will think it’s dumb or stupid. I’ve also become quite efficient at writing. The written posts don’t take more than 10-15 minutes. That’s not to say they are hastily done or sloppy by any means. The words have just come easier. I second guess myself a lot less. This skill has also translated itself when I sit down to write album reviews on Ride the Tempo.

I love blogging and I don’t think I could ever stop. It’s a diary. A place to air my thoughts. A place to experiment. A world that has helped me through some hard times. To know that one person is reading means the world, let alone the fact I now have over 400 subscribers. Thank you all.

Now let’s continue exploring the world together.

April: The Month of No Complaining

April 1, 2015March 31, 201530 Day Challenge, Inspiration, Life2 Comments

In February, the Complaint Restraint project took place. For 28 days people signed up to simply stop complaining. Jessica Hullinger of Fast Company wrote about this experience and provided some great tips.

I missed the month of the originally challenge because I read about it after the fact but I really wanted to take this challenge for a month and learn from it. I’ve had a hard couple of days and this will be very difficult to start and keep going but it’s worth a try to change my current (and future) mindset.

I will start by defining what I consider a complaint to be.

Observations will not be considered a complaint. Ex “It is cold.” Exempt also will be reviews of restaurants and music etc that make it onto blogs. These are considered observations/constructive criticism.
A sentence that contains the following words will be consider a complaint: “hate”, “don’t, fuck, shit, jerk” etc.
A statement that ruminates beyond a simple observation. (Telling 10 people it’s cold)
Gossip, (non-constructive) criticism, whining, grudges, hurtful jokes

This might seem like an impossible task as complaining is inherent in our nature and sometimes we do it subconsciously. It’ll also be difficult depending on the people I surround myself with. Other people love to complain as much as I do. I will do my best to reconstruct negative “complaining” thoughts into more positive and productive ones or simply drop them if they are unimportant. I hope to be more mindful of each situation

Example of looking on the bright side:

View this post on Instagram

Forgot my lunch but then I found this at work #vscocam #easter

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on Mar 31, 2015 at 5:38am PDT

Starting now… no complaining!

(This is not an April Fool’s joke)

One Month of Drawing

March 31, 201530 Day Challenge, Art, LifeLeave a Comment

I did it. I sketched 31 things in 31 days, doing sketches daily (for the most part) during March as part of Articulations Filler Up sketchbook challenge. While not all of the drawings were particularly great it taught me many things:

Not to be so self-critical. The reason I used to not draw much was because often I would trash everything I started because I didn’t like it. I also erased often leading to many unfinished works. Having to finish many in a short time left me less time to be critical
You can make art with anything. Living the example of my grandfather who made art on literally anything I also didn’t limit myself. Some days I drew with fancy pencils, other days ball-poit pens or lead pencils
Making time. My excuse for not drawing (or any other thing for that matter) was that I didn’t have enough time. Time is always available if I make an effort to try to set some aside.
Ideas come from anything. Don’t know what do draw? Draw the glass you are drinking out of, the beer you’re drinking. Literally anything is a subject.

Pages From My Sketchbook Pt. 3

March 25, 201530 Day Challenge, ArtLeave a Comment

We’re nearing the end of March and I have some catch up to do in terms of filling up my sketchbook in time for the challenge but here are a few more random pages:

Page From My Sketchbook Pt. 2

March 17, 201530 Day Challenge, Art, Crafts/DIY, LifeLeave a Comment

I’ve been busy this month but I’ve been keeping up with my Sketchbook challenge this month! I plan to have 31 drawings in my book by the time the month is over. Here are a few of my favourites since the last post:

2 Months of Blogging

February 28, 201530 Day Challenge, Inspiration, LifeLeave a Comment

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset — Celebratory pizza?

I can’t believe I’ve made it to two months of blogging every day. In the past, I’ve never made it to one month let alone 2. It’s been a lot easier doing this alongside my best friend, who has also achieved the same feat. I feel like if either one of us breaks the chain the other will too, thus we’re not letting that happen.

In making myself do this exercise I’ve become a little less self-conscious. A little braver. I tried a new idea which people loved. I became more open in sharing my personal stories, thoughts and dreams.

The need for more content also encouraged me to challenge myself and try new things.

To be honest, I think a contributing factor to why blogging seems easier for me this year is the financial stability. I know that writing doesn’t necessarily require spending money, but having the option and needs to definitely does simplify things. Having a full-time job has further roused me to have life and hobbies outside of the office.

I hope to keep these posts flowing and I thank you all for following my adventures.

2015 Filler Up Sketchbook Challenge

February 20, 201530 Day Challenge, Art, Life3 Comments

As you know, I really wanted to find time to “do more art” this year. I even bought new sketchbooks. However, this still hasn’t resulted in much drawing as of yet. “Busy” seems to always be the excuse. But I’ve been a good kind of busy.

Anyways, today I saw my friend post this Sketchbook Challenge by the Earl Selkirk Gallery in Toronto. The challenge is to encourage people to draw for the month of March and have their sketchbooks on display in April. The registration fee was only $5 so I jumped on the chance.

I think this will be a nice push towards the goal. It’s interesting how something offline could be a bigger motivator than proving I can do this to my online audience. I will try very hard to provide at least 31 sketches by the time March is over and see the effect drawing has on my life!

One Month Of Blogging

January 31, 201530 Day Challenge, Inspiration, Life1 Comment

I did it. For the first time ever, I blogged every day for an entire month. I came close a few times (in previous Januarys) but it never happened, until now. Here’s what I accomplished so far:

To get out of my own head. A lot of the times, you are your own obstacle when blogging. Hitting publish or sitting down to write a post (because you convince yourself you are tired) is the hardest part. Thoughts like “This post isn’t perfect yet” or “This sounds dumb” frequent my mind. But this year, I decided to hit publish and leave no idea unpublished.

Write first, edit second. Typing the ideas out as they come is a priority. Sometimes I’m out in public, waiting for the train and not at a computer. However, I write whatever I’m thinking in OneNote and come back to them later. Other times, I’m at a computer and write an entire post in less than 10 minutes.

Everything is an idea. Especially on a personal blog, ideas are not a problem. Everything can be a post. The food I ate, the really random thing I bought or any art work to show off. There’s inspiration everywhere. Posts don’t have to be the same and I found that variety works with the followers.

Write for me, not anyone else. This is my journal. I stopped thinking about whether a certain post would be popular. I do this for my enjoyment first and it’s a bonus if everybody else enjoys the ride too.

I’ll continue blogging every single day and continue to learn from the experience. I’m not going to break the chain and see if I can make it to 365 posts this year!