I have decided to challenge myself for the next 30 days, I’ll explain why in a little bit, but first I’ll explain the challenge. This challenge is not just for me, but for anyone who wants to become the best version of themselves, and needed a reason to do so. My challenge is that we assess ourselves, strengths and weaknesses, in every aspect of our lives, or at least as many as we can focus on in 30 days. We take our assessments and decide a plan of action for improvement, and we work towards implementing habits that will make us our best possible selves.
I will assess first my behavior, especially my behavior towards others. I’m I outwardly mean or rude to anyone, whether intentionally or unintentionally? Do I do good things to help others, even without reward or acknowledgment? If I asked those close to me what they thought of me, would they think great things?
Then I will assess my feelings. Am I happy with life? Am I content in my achievements and shortcomings in life? How are my relationships, etc?
After that comes my beliefs. What do I believe? Are my beliefs reasonable? Are they on a level of truth that I hold to the highest regard? Are their faults in my beliefs? Are my beliefs fundamentally sound, or are they culture or tradition?
After beliefs comes actions. Do my actions reflect my beliefs? Do I live a life in accordance to the truths that I hold so dear? If given unbiased feedback, would I be considered a model citizen of my values? Also in the case of actions, am I productive? Am I organized? Am I making moves, creating waves, and furthering the cause?
Another aspect worthy of assessment are goals. What are my goals, short term and long? Are they reasonable, do they follow my beliefs? Do they represent what I consider to be important in life? Will the achievement of these goals amount to a life of value?
There are many, many more assessments to be made, I only listed a few to stimulate thought. Dissect your life in aspects that you consider important and look for ways to improve. Then start creating habits that will ensure the success of these improvements.
This is in no way an easy task. It will require daily committments. We will have to restructure our daily lives. Some relationships will be severed, others strengthened. Some people will call us pretentious, others will join the cause. We will fail over and over. But in the end we will succeed. We will become closer to our ideal selves than we thought possible within 30 days, and we will have implemented habits that will move us even closer in the months to follow. Our lives will be changed for the better, and it is my hope that our little ripples of greatness will cause waves of greatness in humanity. We will see greatness in ourselves and eachother, and we will achieve success on levels unimagined.
The gift given to me that has allowed me to accept this challenge is Ramadan. For the next 30 days I will be observing a fast, that is, I will not be eating or drinking from sun up till sun down. This will allow my daily focus to be on improving myself, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and such. I encourage each of you to do the same, if not for spiritual gain then for life gain. There is nothing to lose here, and so much to gain.
Ramadan Mubarak everyone, may the blessings of Ramadan be bestowed on all of us.
