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March 4, 2008
Take the Challenge
Well, we made it through the swim challenge so now it's time for a new one - the complaining challenge! I was reading about this challenge here, in one of the devotionals I read each morning.
In the case that you don't feel like reading about it, the quick explanation is that a pastor in Kansas City gave a challenge to his congregation—to go 21 days without complaining (the amount of time some say it takes to develop a new habit). What a great idea I thought! Not that I'm a huge complainer but I do complain and you can see how one little complaint turns into another into another and before you know it you've got one bad attitude on your hands. (anyone ever watch Wedding Crashers? - one of my favorite lines is when Vince Vaughn tells Owen Wilson to stop "taking a turn to Negative Town!" ;)
So on my drive into work this morning I decided to categorize what I complain about so as to be more aware of it and try to stop it before it goes any further.
1) The Weather - no explaination needed, but as the weather gets better and better this should get easier. I got some practice this morning with this one as O and I were running in my LEAST favorite conditions of all time - about 37 degrees and RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! Wet, cold and not too happy but no complaints!
2) The Traffic/My Commute - both O and I have long drives into work and the road we travel in on is known for it's accidents/backups/mudslides/etc that cause even further delays. PLUS, the evil construction that shut down both inbound and outbound lanes all last spring/summer/fall on said highway are slated to start again next week which means my ride into work will be more like 65-80 minutes instead of 45-60 and my ride home will be more like 50-65 instead of 35-45. Sometimes it drives me insane, other times I handle it better but the fact is, we live where we live and we can't afford to move any closer to the city right now! So as I sat in traffic this morning thinking of all the OTHER things I could be doing I tried to turn my complaining/negative attitude around and think how nice it is to live where we live. I have a great trail to run on. My swimming pool is but a 5 minute drive away and there are literally 100s of miles of great country/hilly riding right out my door. This wouldn't be the case if we lived close to our jobs. (I secretly think the solution is to quit our jobs but O doesn't seem to agree :)
3) Household Jobs - you should just hear the complaining when O and I have to clean the house! We are awful. You would think we are marching to our death. Scrubing the floors really isn't that bad but we certainly make it out to be.
That's about all I could think of. I don't complain about my training at all but I do admit to being really tired at times to O. I've decided that is more of a statement of the truth vs a complaint. :)
So there we have it - no complaining for 21 days starting right NOW! Care to join?
In other news I did my first hard workout on the bike today since...um...October? And WOW was it out of this world! I chose WAYYYYYY too big of a gear to start with but then I was WAYYYYY too stubborn to change it. I thought my head was going to explode! I was loving every second of it though! Hard bike workouts are one of my favorites. Nothing like turning the pedals as hard as you can as fast as you can, sweat flying, heart bursting, pain so acute you can taste it (or was that my lunch I was tasting?) to help you to remember why you loved this sport in the first place.
Have a great night everyone. No complaints! :)
Posted by beth at March 4, 2008 9:27 PM
Comments
I'm in! Count me in! I like this challenge, I am full of complaints with being about to leave and having the mom-n-law here! All morning I complained about her feeding him cracker jacks! (how bad is that???!) Cool! This will a fun one during a training camp with 7 other girls! Oh, did you hear about the pastor down in Florida (near my moms home) that challenged his congregation to 21 days of sex every night for 21 days! He was trying to get them to fall in love with their spouse and to help heal the divorce rate- something along those lines. Maybe that can be your next challenge!
Posted by: Bree at March 5, 2008 12:18 AM
Aw Beth you don't really complain about the weather as much as you are finely intune to it, and the effect it has on you/your training. Because when it is beautiful out you go on with your joy!
Posted by: Dawn at March 5, 2008 5:25 AM
Oh Beth this is a great idea. I've been especially conscious of my complaining lately. I even censored a blog last week that I was going to call "Complaining About Complainers". I accept the no complaining challenge!
Posted by: Ness at March 5, 2008 6:06 AM
Beth:
I am going to try and think about things you can do to lighten your commute.
I think this is a good challenge and I'm going to work on it.
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at March 5, 2008 7:57 AM
I am going to think if I CAN do this one. :) I had heard of this before and saw it on TV and thought, "they are nuts!" haha.
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at March 5, 2008 9:01 AM
I am going to think if I CAN do this one. :) I had heard of this before and saw it on TV and thought, "they are nuts!" haha.
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at March 5, 2008 9:02 AM
I am going to think if I CAN do this one. :) I had heard of this before and saw it on TV and thought, "they are nuts!" haha.
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at March 5, 2008 9:03 AM
"I was loving every second of it though!"... whoa... you like pain...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at March 5, 2008 9:08 AM
Hi Beth - great to catch up on your blog now that I've got computer AND internet. Yippeee!!!! Okay - count me in. I will try to NOT complain to Nathaniel about stuff around the house. There - now the entire world knows. Good stuff. Cute picture of Roxy on the Leap Year blog!
Posted by: marit c-l at March 5, 2008 9:20 AM
OK--I already failed in the complaining challenge. I interrupted Andrew's meeting to call and tell him that he filed the summer camp folder backwards and it took me 30 minutes to find it. I would give the other challenge (the one Bree mentioned" a go, except that I am still sick, so I'm going to blame the illness for failing at both challenges...about 10 minutes into them. Maybe I should have read the devotional first?
Posted by: Danielle at March 5, 2008 3:43 PM
Oh goodness... a good challenge is ALWAYS on board for me!! I'm totally on board with this! When I used to be a teacher... me and the other teachers in my grade would stand out on the playground and COMPLAIN about everything. It got to where it put me in such a bad mood all of the time, that I actually told them one day that I wasn't going to talk about all that bad stuff all of the time, and it WORKED! So here's to a Happy Spring with a Happy Attitude!!
Posted by: kellye at March 5, 2008 9:04 PM
I'm in. And, I'm going to post something on my blog about it too. Thanks for the idea and the motivation!
I'll be a day behind you, though!
Posted by: Meghan at March 5, 2008 9:31 PM