Life comes at you fast – one day you are in kindergarten practicing cursive writing, which they do not even teach anymore, and the next day you are starting your first career job. After graduating college, I chose to further my education and pursue my masters. After a total of 20 years in school, I began working full-time in July 2017. Needless to say, after sitting at my desk in my very own office, I was at the place I had been waiting to be my whole life. I had spent so much time focusing on school and achieving a job, that when the moment finally came, I realized I had not stopped to think much about the “what else” of life outside of work. I had spent all my life preparing to sit behind a desk where the only thing that had would change was the location of the desk and the work on top of it as I progressed. This feeling did not sit with me well. How could a moment I worked so hard for feel so hollow in a way? Let me clarify, I do not mind work, and I am happy to have my job. However, I knew I wanted more for my life than just that, and I went on the quest to find it.
Through contemplating these thoughts, one thing was for sure, my 24th birthday was approaching. During my last year of graduate school, I made an accidental challenge out of my birthday. On the day of my 23rd birthday, Kanye was performing in Atlanta. My friends know that I love Kanye (He is having some issues right now. I just want him to be well. I miss the old Kanye.) I had never been to a concert before, so I was excited to spend my 23rd birthday seeing my favorite artist. After this, I saw that Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole would also be coming to Atlanta. I decided to spend year 23 seeing some of my favorite rappers.
With 24 approaching and my feelings of wanting more, I decided that I would do something different. I would make an intentional challenge for the year – I would be intentional with 24 and the years to come. I thought about the things that I cared about and the life that I wanted to live. I asked myself, “If I had nothing but free time, what would I do?” Some of those things were supporting the environment, exploring nature, creating a healthy lifestyle, being a good friend, living a generous life, enhancing my finances, etc. Then I thought about what it would take for get me to that life. Because we know that nothing changes over night, I created a few goals for myself and jumped into The Birthday Challenge.
What is the birthday challenge?
It is simple. You choose to celebrate your new year of life by setting a goal for yourself. That goal should bring you closer to learning more about yourself – accomplishing something you have wanted to do, creating a new habit, learning a new skill, etc. The possibilities of the challenge are endless because they are determined by you and your interests.
Through my birthday challenge, this blog was birthed, and I dedicate it to my journey – your journey – of wandering to the best version of myself. As you join me in wandering to myself, I dare you to set your own challenge for your next birthday.
Read more about starting your journey of wandering to yourself on the Your Challenge page.(openpage to read more about setting your own challenge and to share your challenge goals.
Without further ado, head over to the blog and read about my first formal challenge for year 24: