A little time to reflect on how we are doing? With today nearly over, we are officially half way through the Challenge. When I first signed up for Deliberate Discomfort a couple of years ago, I enjoyed the idea of how much the Challenge could change me. There are so many aspects that this challenge tackles, the 6-prong model they use, that it’s bound to change something right? There Mental, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Professional, and Social. Where has it changed me really?
I think it has changed me already, and it is only getting started. I’ve found myself being more resourceful in getting things done and taken care of, whether for the challenge or not. I still have days and moments where I’m not getting enough done in my mind, but I’m working towards fixing those things as well. I’ve found that listening to audio books is better than music some days, and have found that I have quite enjoyed some of the classics in literature over the last few weeks (Mental). I’ve found that I have a LOT to be thankful for when writing in my Gratitude Journal (Emotional). I’m feeling stronger, healthier from eating well, losing weight and the cardio has gotten considerably easier as well as the weight and bodyweight workouts (Physical). These three domains are the three that I feel the most amount of change in, and I’m ready for more as well.
I’ve found that some mornings I’m challenged with getting the workout done because I have to look up all the new exercises lately, and they’ve started getting a little more challenging as well. Part of my challenge is the modifications to the exercises because I’m unable to do any high impact exercises like running and jumping due to my bad knees, but thankfully I’m pretty fluent in search engines and can usually find a suitable replacement relatively quickly.
All in all, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge. If there were any places that I’d like to see it improved, it would be the Mindfulness (Spiritual) domain, but I may have a biased opinion on this one. I’ve done deeper and more intense versions of this before, so Deliberate Discomfort’s version seems a little basic to me and in some cases boring. Everything else in the program is great though!
I’m really looking forward to seeing what the second half of the Challenge brings my way! I’ve seen some of the results that previous graduates have achieved through the program and I feel like I’m definitely headed in that direction too. We’ll have to see what they bring my way after the initial 60 days to see what sort of maintenance I’ll need to do, and I know there are some that have gone through it multiple times. I don’t know if that will be me, but it’s something to think about…that’s for sure.
At least it’s comforting to know that We’re Half Way There!