The past few years have been a real mind stretch for me. Leading a new major project at work, stepping up my blogging game and building a business with new partners have me doing things I have never done before. I always say that I love a challenge, even though I am usually terrified when first faced with one! But in July, the rubber really hit the road and I went way out on a limb. I had been toying with the idea of podcasting, but I knew I did not have the audio equipment I needed…so I thought. Thanks to fellow blogger and podcaster Ray Garraud, I learned that for the level of podcasting I wanted to do, I needed very few tools. Ray, along with friend to This and That With Calandra, Mr. Fresh, also introduced me to AudioMo, an annual month-long challenge to create daily audio posts, linking each one to Twitter via hashtag #AudioMo. I downloaded and learned to use a few new apps and podcasting services, and on July 4, I officially joined the challenge and completed 27 of 31 days of audio posts as part of AudioMo, even meeting a few new folks along the way (big shout out to johnmill79 of A Blind Man’s Journey!)

I was quite proud of the fact that I actually found something to talk about every day, and I knew that my podcasting days had just begun! And then on July 31, something interesting happened – I found another challenge! One of my favorite bloggers, Luvvie Ajayi, was hosting her annual 31WriteNow Challenge, which was a blog post each day for the month of August. I knew that I was destined for it! And my podcasting friends Ray and John decided to join me! Clearly, writing has been much more of a daily challenge, but if I could do something I had never done before for a whole month, then I should be able to tackle writing – I mean, I already have a blog, right? LOL

But for me, nothing is ever just that simple. I am reminded of other challenges I have faced in life. I have learned to be self-forgiving when my initial reaction is a fearful one. That’s just human nature. The challenge of a challenge is to not remain fearful, but to turn that fear into energy to rise to the challenge! There’s no greater joy than to feel you have successfully ventured into unknown territory. Greater still is the knowledge that each challenge met brings more peace of mind and erodes some of the fear I experience at the onset of the next challenge.

So…are you ready for your next challenge?

(31WriteNow Challenge Day 18)