challenges of 27th year
Unobtrusively a year has passed since www.kristivikman.com saw life on my 26th birthday in mid-October. My 27th birthday this year was so cute and I really felt in peace – A. woke me up in the morning with breakfast in bed and organised a treasure hunt for me in Liege in the afternoon, where tiny bottles with clues were hidden. Knowing me, it was a pretty bold undertaking because “If I don’t get it right away, I don’t want it at all!” So, if the hint was too complicated, I would probably be passively mad at the hint, at him and at the whole world, and be grumpy at least for the next 15 minutes. But no! All the clues were solved without too much hesitation and the prize awaited me in a cozy box with everything I needed for a home spa (check out the highlight in my Instagram). In the evening, we went with his family to a restaurant to enjoy good company next to delicious food and wine.
When I asked A. what three keywords symbolising my 26th year were, he came up with all of them positive and encouraging: growing up, taking risks and travelling, as I remember right now. However, I tend to remember last year with negative tones. I can’t tell specific events, just a sense of it says this year was not something I would be proud of or remember in positive way.
Although he is certainly right that last year I made bold decisions: I moved to Belgium, started taking pictures of clients, published a blog and much more. In my 26th year, I have some of my best travel memories of Israel and Turkey, and in total I visited ten countries. However, there is a slight disappointment in my soul, even if I can’t say exactly what it is.
Through my Instagram, I asked for ideas and also searched for some myself. I also share it with you because maybe you also feel that control is gone and would like to try out some of them (with me).
- Walk for 30 minutes every day in the open air – I work from home and honestly there are days when I don’t step out of the house.
- Learn three new words in a foreign language (verb, adjective, and noun) – I finally started my French classes and it would actually make me learn and use some of them everyday.
- Limit social media scrolling to 1h/day – I’m used to grabbing my phone right when I get bored and just waste so much time on it.
- Read 10 pages every day – Again, it could be a substitute for watching series and picking up the phone because I love reading, but I only read books when I’m in Estonia.
- Eat 100% vegan – I have left out meat my menu at the start of the year and actually reduced my dairy consumption, but I still consume a lot of eggs and cheese is my guilty pleasure.
- Do 5 Tibetan exercises each morning – My morning routine is non existent. I grab my phone right in bed, then the bathroom, and coffee and to my laptop it is right away. I really want to have a positive morning routine where I 1. do something for the body 2. set goals for the day 3. only grab for my phone after I have devoted time to myself.
- Keep a diary – I like to write, but I’ve never been a regular in journalling + I don’t really feel very confident in spreading all my fears and thoughts permanently on sheet of paper. At the same time, I believe it would help to organise my thoughts and analyse myself.
- Draw one picture a day – In the summer I started testing with water colors, but I have not done it as much as I would have liked to. I have a travel sketchbook where I want to draw my favorite places or moments while traveling, but I’m still in the process of sketching down my trip to Turkey.
- Meditate – I’ve never tried. It seems extremely difficult to be alone with my thoughts and not react immediately to them with some action, but it seems like a my kind of challenge.
- Take cold showers – For others I’m probably taking cool shower even now because I’m just not a fan of hot showers or baths, but it just seems so-so difficult to get under really cold water, especially in the winter.
- Eat clean – Do not eat processed or junk food throughout the month. Nor do I consume alcohol or sugary drinks, which I really have no relationship with anyway since I always prefer water. I’m definitely an emotional eater who rewards oneself with pizza or some other soul-warming food when I’m in a bad mood.
- Consume with Zero Waste Principles – I don’t think you can do 100% zero waste for a month off the bat, but it would be interesting to try to buy only those items that are plastic free and limit your shopping to what you really need.
- Make a coffee-free month – I don’t like to drink tea and you only find me hold a cup of tea when I’m sick or traveling in countries where it is rooted in tradition (Turkey, Morocco, etc.). Enjoying a cup of coffee is the best part of my morning and I believe that following it is damn hard for me.
So, for November I decided to challenge myself to learn 3 new French words every day, so by the end of the month I should be able to use almost 100 new words.
At the end of each month, I also publish a summary of how it went, whether on blog and/or Instagram.
Keep an eye on my stories and join the challenges that speak to you and improve your life, even if it seems difficult at first.
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