Weekly Challenge 6 - Week of February 5 - February 11, 2012

Hey everyone, hope you had a good Saturday night and have started your day right!

I have missed a couple Weekly Challenges for you guys over the past month, but today I have one in store that I hope many of you will enjoy.

Lately I have been thinking about the things that define me in my life: people, relationships, jobs, hobbies and thinking processes, etc. I have been considering much about how the way we interact with people reflects how we interact with ourselves and how we perceive our environments and experiences.  

My challenge for you to undertake this week is to come up with 5 things you dislike about your traits or behaviours (negative behaviours) and craft a 3-6 month plan of how to conquer at least one of them.

For example, you may not like that you don't spend enough time with your family, or you are not adventurous (don't like starting new hobbies or doing new activities).  Of course I am not suggesting to rip yourself apart and change everything about you, because you are who you are. But if there are traits that *you* don't like in yourself or can see them negatively affecting others and wish to change them, then these are the ones to consider.

In your journal you can write down one of your 5 undesirable traits or behaviours, and underneath it write the goal trait or behaviour (they do not have to be extreme opposites; you might just want to modify an existing trait to be less extreme, for example):

Undersirable trait:         Too conservative/uptight
Desirable trait:              Adventurous and laid-back (This is an extreme change; a more moderate one would be 'flexible' or 'willing to try new things')

3 or 6 months:                3 months

What are actions that promote this trait:
____________________________________________________________________________________

How can I incorporate one or some of these actions into my week:
____________________________________________________________________________________

What are the some obstacles I might face when trying to change my behaviour:
____________________________________________________________________________________

How can I approach these and handle them with grace?
____________________________________________________________________________________

How will I know when I have reached my goal?
____________________________________________________________________________________

Who can I talk to to help me along this journey? Are they supportive? If not, can I find someone who is?
_____________________________________________________________________________________



By writing these out, you are forcing yourself to commit to your new behaviour. This is the first step in actualizing a plan for change. By anticipating challenges (obstacles) and writing them down and how you will approach them you will not be blindsided and overwhelmed when they do arise. This allows you to recover from set-backs quicker and helps keep you on track. By reaching out to others you are creating a supportive network that will be essential for you to press onward during rough times and to celebrate with you when you have hit a milestone!

Be careful to set a realistic and attainable goal, however, as something too lofty will only create disappointment.
If you are currently housebound and seeking counseling, planning a 3 month goal of traveling to the other end of the continent by yourself may not be realistic. Discover your personal boundaries, and seek to slowly expand the circle until your goal has come into view. Once you have reached it, re-assess your position, and seek to expand your comfort circle once more.

The idea on the path to wellness is to create a dynamic, flexible and content personality while not compromising on your beliefs and values.

Enjoy this challenge my friends!

Conquer on!

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Weekly Challenge 5 - Week of January 15 – 21

Welcome back everyone and welcome to the 5^th weekly challenge!!

ConquerTheClouds has officially entered the 6^th week of existence!

I hope you were able to keep up with the Challenge last week of tracking your moods. If you haven’t been following the Challenges, check out this page for a list of what you’ve been missing out on!

This week, I have come up with a creative-challenge (aren’t they all creative? haha!).

I have been thinking about my future and career-goals and want to make them accessible and manageable. As I have mentioned in Staying Motivated when Discouraged (tip # 3) and in Carving a Staircase out of a Wall in order to set manageable goals we have to chunk them into smaller steps. We can call this prioritizing, as well. This is to help stay motivated and avoid getting discouraged from being unable to complete the entire project or goal all at once. We have to make sure things are time-appropriate.

So, with that! I want everyone to write out a couple big goals (buy a car, go to university, write a song or story, get a job, lose 10 lbs, etc.) and put them onto a flash card, or a medium-sized piece of paper. Colour it with funky colours, or make it fun however you like – this is an important, fulfilling goal of yours! Make it fun!

On separate pieces of paper (smaller if you like, like half sized flash cards – cut them with scissors) write at least 3-5 steps that you can take to make it to your big goal. Make them manageable, and attainable.

Imagine you are trying to get a job. Write that on your card “Get a Job”. On the 1^st little paper we can write “write my resume”, on the 2^nd we can write “write my cover letter” and so on. These are much easier to manage than thinking about just getting that job and all that entails!

For me, this week, I am going to write my goals on some flash card sized papers and tape them to my bathroom mirror (or on a wall or door I see every day). I want you to do the same. Tape your goals to a surface that you see often. This will help to refocus your mind if you find it difficult to concentrate, and also provide you with motivation to complete your goals.

If you have no goals for your life at this point, this week can be for brainstorming! Make it fun and wacky as well as serious as your write down your life goals – you can put things like 'having a dinosaur-shaped pool in your backyard by the time you’re 30' as well as 'becoming a doctor'. It doesn’t always have to be serious, but having well-defined, attainable goals for life are important as they provide a sense of purpose and let you feel satisfied and fulfilled.

Now, get to it! :D

If you haven’t been following the Weekly Challenges, start here today!

Thanks for reading!

                                                    Conquer on!

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Weekly Challenge 4 - Week of January 8 – 15

Welcome back everyone! This week's challenge is a few hours late, but I hope you enjoyed last week’s challenge of the 10 things you find fun to do.


I have come up with an interesting challenge this week:

In your journal, along with the three things per day that go well, start recording your mood upon waking and before sleeping. Also, during the day, begin to notice when your mood starts to dip or falter, or you feel that twinge of sadness well up from “nowhere”. Pause and before engaging the feeling – ask yourself what went through your mind at that moment.

This approach to mindfulness will help you track your moods. If you can find out what things are triggering your bad moods you might be able to circumvent a slide into depression or at least prevent it from being so intense because you’ll know it’s just those thoughts and you don’t have to engage the feelings to their full extent.

If you haven’t been following the Weekly Challenges, start here today!

Thanks for reading!

                                                     Conquer on!

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Weekly Challenge 3 - Week of January 1 – 7

Weekly Challenge 3 - Week of January 1 – 7

Happy New Year and welcome to 2012!

Today is the start of the third Conqueror's Weekly Challenge! I hope you enjoyed last week’s challenge! If you have just started reading, see this page to see what you have been missing out on!

Now that I have used up my daily allotment of exclamation points (!) let’s discuss the challenge this week.

In your new wellness project or on a piece of paper (or even on your bathroom or hallway mirror!) write down 10 things that you enjoy doing or used to enjoy doing. They can be as simple as watching a movie, or jogging/walking with your dog; or they can include traveling and writing books. After thinking about these positive things I want you to commit to doing at least one of them this week. Choose one that you haven’t been able to incorporate into your life for a while, it will make it more rewarding. If you are feeling up to it, incorporate 2 or more of your activities or things on your list into your life this week. It might even be fun if you and your spouse or friend came up with lists of things to do together that you haven’t done in a while, and do them together (like going for dinner, or walks together).

One of the most difficult things about coping with anxiety and depression is that it robs you of your ability to see the pleasurable things in life, or enjoy the fun things that you do or used to do. When negative thinking and associations colour your perspective, it’s no wonder that even gathering the motivation to do something fun is hard.

The challenge this week is to turn the wheel the other way, out of the negative patterns of thinking, and force yourselves (doesn’t sound very fun...) to at least do things that used to be enjoyable.

What generally tends to occur when someone is experiencing heightened levels of anxiety, or a low pit of despair and depression is that they recoil into themselves and shut out the world. It might be hard for someone who is introverted to know when they are withdrawing from their passion because they tend to enjoy solitude over the company of others, however, if you are feeling hopeless and lonely when you would usually feel enlivened and energetic in your own company, you might be sliding down into a depression trough (like the waves of an ocean).

 Recovery from depression and anxiety is hard work. There is no "cure" because it's not an illness with one list of symptomology. It's a large body-system reaction to prolonged stress and internal and external cues and events. Everyone's symptoms are different but there are some similar experiences. And you can reach the point where you can enjoy life and your successes. Many people have trouble with depression and anxiety at some point in their life; knowing how to cope with it is what makes the difference between someone who suffers and someone who conquers. I am not trying to say someone who has depression or anxiety is lesser than someone who doesn’t - not at all! What I am saying is that the perspective of someone who is in the throes of anxiety/depression is very different from someone who isn’t.

The challenge this week will help you to modify your behaviour to break you out of your shell and get out into the world a bit more. It may be hard at first, but if you take it slow and take small steps at a time, it will be a manageable and rewarding experience. Having fun when you feel awful is not going to be easy, so don't feel hard on yourself if you aren't laughing and giddy when doing the things you used to enjoy doing. The key here is just to get back into the swing of doing enjoyable hobbies and activities. You might find you feel more refreshed afterward. Also, this challenge gives you the opportunity to connect with others in a meaningful way. Perhaps you enjoy or used to enjoy speaking with your friends and family over the phone or on Skype. Maybe you can go for a coffee or walk and talk about the positive things in your life. It is important to stay connected.

If going out and doing one of the ten things on your list is too difficult at this point, drop it down a notch and work at compiling a list of happy and inspiring things - 10 or as many as you can think of. The action alone of thinking about happy things will be positive and inspiring. Eventually you can work your way up to completing one of the ten (or more) on your list.

                                                             Conquer on!

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My New Journal: An extremely thoughtful Christmas gift!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to post an update on my journal (hopefully everyone has been following along this week with the Christmas Challenge!). I received this modified black journal (the celtic cross, and heart locket and leather cord with key were all added by hand) with blank pages (no lines!) for Christmas from my partner. Needless to say, I was extremely touched. So I just wanted to let everyone know that I don't just write things and say things - these are things I am doing in my life, as well!

I have found that I am drawing more than I usually do in my journal because I have no lines... The thought was that I would appreciate the freedom in blank pages... and it's true! :)

Well guys, there will be a new Challenge for the New Year Week so stayed tuned and look forward to that!


If anyone wants to talk about their journaling experience, post a comment!

                                                                    Conquer on!

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Weekly Challenge 1 - Week of December 18 - 24

Welcome all Conquerors to the very first Conqueror's Weekly Challenge!

I am intending on coming up with a challenge for everyone to undergo every week as we continue our journey of personal development.
This week, I am proposing that everyone of us resists the urge to complain or speak negatively about things in our life. For one week. That's only 7 days.
The power of our minds is incredible and most people are unaware of how quickly one comment about a negative event or situation can turn into a full-blown rage-fest about the entire state of the world. This is a cognitive approach to becoming your best you! Your mind, your friends and your family will thank you when you resist those little nuggets of negativity that come flittering into your thought-stream.

I have challenged myself with this one before, and my results were incredible. I still had the thoughts, of course, but I didn't let them have the room in my mind that they wanted. I acknowledged their presence, but didn't explore them further.

So when you find yourself with the negative thought(s) or comment(s), take a moment, acknowledge that you are having one, but ignore it and do not let it materialize, that is, do not speak it aloud.
Part of the reality of anxiety is that the feelings and thoughts one experiences internally are manifesting in subsequent behaviour. If one can stop the cycle of destructive thoughts and feelings at the behavioural-level, there is only one recourse - the thoughts and feelings must change to accomodate the new behaviour.

This is only a small step in the direction of our best success, but it's a great first weekly challenge!


You got this one Conquerors!

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