My friend Erika posted something yesterday that has me making a new To-Do list for myself: she posted a 30-Day Challenge, October list.  Her list breaks down several areas of her life and she’s given herself a few things to do in each category.  She’s got fitness, personal health, work and fun. Her tasks are things like walk 24 miles, drink 1920 oz of water during October, make a conscious effort at healthier daily eating, see a current movie in a theater with popcorn, hike.

I really like this challenge and am coming up with my own list (I thought about just stealing hers wholesale; but, that was just tooooo worthless).

Fitness:

• Get to the gym 12 times
• Walk 12 miles
• Drink 1920 oz of water (she says that’s 64 oz a day)

Personal health (I’m including mental health in this):

• Write four letters to friends
• Take my daily vitamin – um – DAILY
• Sleep at least seven hours a night

Work:

• Attend 12 networking functions
• Complete four areas of self-study
• Meet with 12 people each week

Fun:

• Take photos in small towns in the area one Saturday
• Actually decorate for Halloween
• Host a Samhain dinner

Looking at life recently, I have become overwhelmed and am grieving over some things – that’s easy to do, right? But we’ve discussed before how unhealthy it is to get stuck in that process. We need to fully feel, grieve and get through processes; however, we also need to stay solution focused to avoid becoming trapped in those processes.  Looking at all I have to do, I become overwhelmed and paralyzed.  So, the list breaks it down to 12 simple steps.  After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

As important as each of these steps will be on their own, Erika’s note to herself at the bottom of the list will be the mantra throughout the month:  Remember to breathe and suck it up, buttercup.

What trials are you dealing with right now? Are you too overwhelmed to affect a solution? Try breaking it down into smaller steps.  Make a manageable list. Share it with friends, family or here (you’re among friends, after all). By sharing the lists, we become accountable to others and they become our cheering section and our support group.

With every step, remember to breathe.  Well, breathe and suck it up, buttercup!