Some are thrust upon you, but some you can choose!

I love Lucille's title for a category on her blog: How To Derive Entertainment From Mundane Chores.  Some of my challenges definitely come under this heading. It's reminding me of a book I had some years ago called Romancing The Ordinary which was fun.

Writing a blog was a challenge and I am so glad I took it on - it has helped me along on other simplifying-my-life challenges - eating better, getting fitter, making my home the way I want it to be, sorting my clothes, deciding which causes I want to support and what my priorities are.

The challenge of writing a novel has changed Februaries for me from being my least favourite month to being one I look forward to with excited anticipation.

The reason I've largely met these challenges (though of course I am a work-in-progress!) is I think that they were self-imposed. I then went about researching books and blogs and websites to find the best mentors. I'm not really very good at doing what I am told (I've given up on magazines altogether - they are so bossy!) but it depends who is doing the telling, don't you think?

A challenge need not be something new or particularly ambitious or difficult - it can just mean focusing more on one issue for a period of time -fifteen minutes, or days, or months, to get the satisfaction of moving forward, of making progress.


Tomorrow more about my chosen mentors.....

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I know I feel most alive when I am learning something. Do you?

Something I have learned about learning from my friend Lynne, and from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits is that it is perfectly OK to start with baby steps.

Really tiny, embarrassingly tiny, baby steps. ('But I'm not a baby!' I hear myself thinking...)

I'm learning some Italian and I'm learning to swim better and in both endeavours I am trying to do too much too soon. I'm not a patient learner!

Babauta says make your first steps so easy you cannot fail.

Swimming on Friday I was trying about 8 different things. Next time I am going to try two - going from floating on my back to vertical and treading water, and gliding then lifting my head to take a breath and gliding again. Or maybe I'll just do this... Can I recommend the videos on Ian Cross's website Swimming Without Stress if you are wanting to learn to swim or improve your confidence in the water? They are excellent - on doing more with less - minimalist swimming!

In Italian I'm finding the free online course at Busuu fun and relevant (though they keep trying to sell me the upgrade part, and send a lot of emails - but that's OK - I can ignore that for now). The courses I've looked at are designed so that you can go entirely at your own pace, and repeat your tottering baby steps as often as it takes....Interesting, and quite fun.

What have you learned about learning? 

And about yourself as a learner

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I mentioned here that I learned a lot from collecting quilts. In fact most of what  I know about American history I learned through studying the quilts made there. This wonderful book is one I will never part with. I can't do better than give you the blurb from the back...

'An unusual history of the art of quilting, the social contact, the solace, the discipline it represents....the women who speak through the book shared a vision, a strength, and  a spirit that few of us will never know or understand.....'

I might add many of them withstood hardships most of us will never know or understand either.


(First published in 1978, I see it is still available from Amazon for between £1.39 and £65.12 - does anyone understand how Amazon pricing works?)

I know!

Indulge me.

Duolingo send me an email reminder to do some Italian every day. Someone there also has a sense of humour - at the end of the first lesson they tell me I'm 1% fluent in Italian! (Does that mean at the end of 100 days I'll be 100% fluent I wonder?)

The garden is such a lot of work, sometimes against the odds it seems, but then you have a sunny evening meal sitting looking at it, and it all seems worth it.  Perfect indeed.

I hope you've had a lovely day.

That question 'Would I buy it today?' arises with some of my stuff.

I have some antique quilts which I have loved, but they now reside in special acid free boxes in the loft. I have enjoyed them, I had great fun finding them and learning about them, exhibiting them and talking about them at 'show and tells'. In other houses I had them on the beds and hanging on the walls, but for some reason I don't use them in this house.

Would I buy them today?

Probably not.

It may be their time to find new homes....and spark joy in someone else's heart!

Did you do a 30 day challenge?

How did it go?

I liked my 30 day challenge and consider it a success in that I found exercise which I enjoy and want to do, and I've started swimming....I'll keep up with both and find a level that doesn't hurt my knees!

For my next 30 day challenge I will learn some Italian every day. (I have plans!)

I'm looking at Duolingo - free online. and have Living Language Italian - a CD to play in the car.

Will you try something new for July?

Ciao!