My new year goal for 2022 was to complete some 30 day challenges, try out some new things, get some habits forming, generally be industrious throughout the year. I completed 11 30 day challenges some of which have formed habits which have stuck, some of which I never want to revisit again, and some which were good but probably need another go. I think it’s been a really successful year and something I might try again in 2023. Until then, though, and having taken December off from a specific challenge, it seems like a good time to reflect on what I did achieve this year.

• 30 days of Duolingo - A good start to the year, something I was familiar with, easily achieved. Since then, I’ve kept up the streak with the help of some streak freezes for the odd day off. However, I recently deliberately broke it again as I’m trying to decide whether to switch to Spanish for a bit.
• 30 days of core - At the time this was a very successful challenge and made me realise that just adding 5 mins of core to the end of a workout is super easy and I should be able to do that all the time. But… nope, I didn’t keep that up.
• 30 days of ShadowDraw - This one started out fun but I feel like I got bored towards the end as I didn’t really feel like I was achieving anything. It’s a good app but not one that I’ve revisited at all. Drawing in some form is still on the list though.
• 30 days of comic books - I was worried about this one initially because the vastness of comics stresses me out, and I don’t think that feeling went away. When I found a good comic series to read, that was fine, but faced with choice… there was too much. Not something I’ve revisited.
• 30 days of poems - This was the only full on disappointment of the year, I wanted to fall in love with poetry and keep reading through the ‘year of poems’ book I dipped into for these 30 days. But I didn’t really engage with it and the book is gathering dust. Oh well.
• 30 days of photos - A rollercoaster of a challenge, this one, some days it was a real slog but also it helped me take some of my best photos ever. More than anything, this made me realise there’s a perfect balance between a challenge narrow enough to guide but wide enough to allow for real life is super important.
• 30 days of water tracking - Of all the challenges this year, this is the one I desperately want to keep going but keep struggling with. Every few days I’m like ’now, I’m starting again and it’s going to be great’ and by the end of the day it’s fallen out of my head. This may come back round just to get the habit back on track.
• 30 days of salads - Being something of a seasonal challenge, I’ve not leaned into the salads big time since August, but I loved this one that helped me experiment a bit and get myself organised with packed lunches, and opened my eyes to how versatile a salad can be.
• 30 days of walking - I can’t say I’ve kept this up every day, or even as much as I would like, but I do think this helped me get engaged with walking again and how easy it is just to lace on some shoes and get outside. I do walk more and will walk more when we get out of this cold snap.
• 30 days of British Sign Language - I think this is my favourite challenge of the year because it was something I’d been thinking about for such a long time and would never have got round to without this self-imposed prompt. Now the trick is deciding how best to keep it up - just practice what I’ve learned or go on to learn more or what?
• 30 days of guitar - The perfect hobby to end on, particularly as we head into hibernation mode, I’ve kept up playing as it’s only been a couple of weeks since the end of the challenge. Not every day but enough to keep on learning and get some more certificates… and I’m sure to keep on practicing over winter.

It’s amazing to think of packing so much into a single year, and I’m so happy with how this worked compared to the normal goals I set and tend to ignore. I’m hoping to continue the challenges next year, but may think about tweaking how many or how I set them up. There’s so much more to be tried and the list just keeps on growing! Until 2023!