21 Day Challenge

Nearly nine years ago, I married the most incredible man I'd ever met.  He's fun, outgoing, smart, spontaneous...practically every thing I had on my future husband wish list.  Though our differences are numerous, there are several things we have in common - some good, some not so good.

One area, that I believe is safe to say, we have both struggled with is self-discipline in the area of healthy living.  This includes but is not limited to:

• Healthy food choices


• Regular exercise


• Teaching our boys the importance of maintaining good physical health

Just about a month ago, it was decided that we'd make some changes in the right direction.  We began by trying to incorporate more whole foods into our diet.  I think it's safe to say that we've done okay in that area.  Though our children are reluctant, they are slowly coming around.  However, I'm struggling still with the exercise portion of living healthy.  This was not something that was taught as a necessity to myself or my husband growing up.  So making time for it has been quite a challenge.  Not to mention we live in a rural community and have 3 boys under the age of 5.

I was so excited when I read on Erin's blog Home with the Boys about Crystal's, from Money Saving Mom, new ebook 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life. And I was even more excited to learn about the challenge that will begin tomorrow, November 1st!  One of the challenges in the book is to pick a mega project to work toward completing during the 21 day challenge.  And boy did I come up with a list of projects I could work on! Here are just a few of my mega project list for future months.

• Homeschool Curriculum - since it looks like that's the route we'll be taking, I need to start working on what next fall will look like for us.


• Make a Quilt - something I've been wanting to do for a while.


• Declutter my house - something I could put off indefinitely but really needs has to be done!


• Prayer book for my boys - a book for scriptures my boys can look at and we can pray together.

But my choice is obvious. Exercise will be my focus the next 21 days.  I'm not going to jump in and try to over do it - which I'm really good at.  However, I want to invite a family lifestyle that embraces exercise.  We, meaning I, will start small and work toward my goal progressively.  Since my college days, I've gained a good bit of weight and a lot of remorse over it.  I'm watching my children embrace an unhealthy lifestyle that I've promoted through my inaction. So here are a few of my goals for the beginning:

• Exercise for at least 15 minutes a day.


• Utilize my resources - walking track at the local park, Couch to 5K phone app, exercise videos, exercise games for the game systems, etc.


• Actually use the My Fitness Pal app on my smart phone to track my daily food and exercise goals (& put a badge on my blog - for accountability)

So, have a mega project you've been thinking about  putting off for a while? Buy the book here. And then join the challenge! Looking forward to beginning a new, healthy lifestyle over the next 21 days.  Will you join me?