Wait a minute, let me clarify that. I’m not looking for 45 different challenges, instead, I’m looking for challenges with a theme of 45.
Why you ask?
As I’ve been making the transition from 2011 to 2012, I can’t help but notice that I have a birthday in the not too distant future. Now, it’s not one of those major milestones, it’s not going to spawn any black ballooned Over-The-Hill parties, there are a few more years before that. But as you might have already guess, I’m going to be turning 45.
As far as I can tell, this upcoming birthday will put me in a new age division that is kind of a bummer. My health insurance company has already warned me, the birthday present they’re giving me this year is 20 percent higher premiums. (Does that come with a gift receipt?) And apparently, my opinion won’t count for much anymore, since I’ll no longer fit into that key 18-44 demographic. About the only plus side I see, and really, this is only on paper, is that it will become ever so slightly easier for me to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Reframing to the Rescue
So, to cheer myself up, I want some challenges that use the power of the number 45 for good! But, I’m having a hard time thinking creatively about it. The only things I can come up with I’ve already done or they go beyond challenge to pretty much impossible. For instance, run for 45 minutes or 45 miles. The former I’ve done enough for it not to be a challenge, the latter, while theoretically possible, it seems impossible to train enough in the next two months to do it.
I’ve thought about writing challenges. Something like writing 45,000 words or maybe post 45 times to this blog. Again, the former I’ve done, so it’s not such an interesting challenge, and the latter seems pretty much impossible since that’s more posts than I usually write in a couple of years! Although…it really could be an interesting and challenging challenge. Of course you’d all have to put up with the possibility of boringness and irrelevancy.
I’d love a handful of challenges involving the different aspects of my life: personal and professional, physical and mental, for others and for me. Since you, my dear readers, are some of the most clever people I know, I’m asking for your help.
Put your clever cap on
Dream up a 45-themed challenge for me and leave it here in the comments or post it on the Perception Studios Facebook Page. Everyone who makes a suggestion will be entered in a drawing to win a Spa Time for Your Mind session. And I’ll give a special little thank you to whoever comes up with challenges that I decide to take on.
I want to get started on these right away, since it will all need to happen by March 17. And that’s just two months or nine weeks or 60 days or 45 weekdays away. I’ll announce my new challenges next Monday, March 24.
(Flickr image of old 45s by crabchick.)
Ooh, what a fun idea for your birthday! Here are a couple ideas:
Give 45 compliments to strangers.
(I once was dared to kiss 20 strangers at a bar, and did. – I have been much less shy since that day. Compliments may be more be-fitting your maturity level, though.)
Have 45 mini-parties. A different theme for every one. At least 5 minutes each, anytime between now and your birthday. Some just for you, some with friends.
45 meetings with friends for coffee at different places around area
45 different drawing/paintings on similar theme
45 drawings/paintings of the same thing
45 new healthy recipes
45 new combinations of clothes
think of anything you do in your daily life and come up with 45 different ways to approach it—- think stretching options
Write 45 thank-you’s to people from your past (teachers, classmates)
Dress up in 45 different costumes throughout the year and post from the point of view of each different character
Try 45 new things – meaning absolutely anything you haven’t done before.
Learn 45 phrases in a new language.
Knit or crochet a 45-inch scarf.
Plant 45 trees.
Cool project!
how about wiping away regrets; 45 amends to 45 regrets . amends not apologies. amends are making changes to the things that created damage in the past ….got 45 of them Shannon????
or how about 45 pics of your favorite and most spiritual item in 45 locations ?
That is an interesting challenge! Let me think.
45 different Level 1 (or another) Shiva Nata practices.
45 random acts of kindness.
45 different hikes.
45 different photographs of your favorite mountain or peak or climbing route.
Learn to say the number 45 in 45 languages.
Read 45 books.
Buy 45 flowers, one at a time, and give each one away before you get home.
Pick something that challenges you in your business or personal life and come up with 45 ways in which (everything you think about it is wrong) or (you could see it differently) or (it could happen in a ridiculously easy manner).
Call 45 people you love.
Write 45 letters.
Run (or walk or run-walk) 45 times and have them all be similar mileages but different routes.
45 self-portraits.
Write 45 mini-letters to yourself like “45 things you want 45-year-old you to know” or “45 things you are grateful for as you turn 45” or “45 things you want 45 year old you to do”.
Oh, I should clarify. With the last one, I meant that each thing could be a mini-letter, not that you had to write 45 lists of 45 things each. Though I guess that could be another challenge! ;)
Invite 45 friends who are(turning) 45 to a crazy virtual party! I’ll be one of the 45 :) Actually maybe you should invite 44 so the total number of peeps is 45 :D
Watch 45 episodes of The Wire. That’s my kind of goal.
Get 45 really small canvasses (like 1″ or 2″ square) and paint a word on each one of one thing you’ve discovered in your 45 beautiful years.
Photograph yourself in 45 different costumes.
Have 45 days of birthday celebration – doing something special for yourself on each day.
Wow, you guys are really good at this! So many great ideas, and more on Facebook too.
Keep ’em coming!
the only thing i can think of that really makes any sense is to collect 45 photos of 45 DIFFERENT poodles then send them to me in 45 days.
[…] Seeking 45-Themed Challenges. Can you help? […]
You’ve probably already figured out what you want to do – but here is my idea:
45 random acts of kindness to strangers.
After reading The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky I tried this. (well, I tried it less than 45 times but more than 1)
You would not believe the buzz it gives you. weird & fun at the same time.
And to really get the buzz they need to be different acts (emphasis on random) and clumping them into, say, 5 acts on one day each week gives a better boost than spreading the acts out over 5 days.
[…] two weeks into those challenges I’ve taken on in anticipation of my 45th birthday in March. In last week’s Early Bird Sandwich, I recognized the value of doing the challenges […]