This year, I decided to expand my capabilities and embark on little monthly challenges. Some of them are financed-based, some are fitness-based and some are just for fun. I really have no rhyme or reason for the challenges, I just wanted something to focus on for each month.
The challenge:
For December, I continued my November challenge: writing in my gratitude journal every single day.
The parameters:
Friends, December completely stumped me. I struggled to come up with a new challenge because I knew the month would be packed with holiday activities like shopping, traveling, and spending time with family. Additionally, since I’d be out of town for a full week, I didn’t want to commit to anything that wasn’t portable. I had no desire to lug extra supplies in my suitcase just to complete a challenge.
So, I decided to keep things simple and extend my November challenge into December by continuing to write in my gratitude journal. Easy, manageable, and exactly what I needed to close out the year.
That being said, how did my year of monthly challenges go?
One thing that surprised me was how difficult it was to come up with the challenges themselves. I searched online and even asked ChatGPT for ideas, but many of the suggestions didn’t quite fit, or they were already things I do every day. A lot of 30-day challenges revolve around habits like making your bed, drinking water, or reading daily, and I already do those things every day.
Instead, I had to get creative and find new things to try, which turned out to be harder than expected.
Lessons learned:
Once I committed to a challenge, sticking with it for 30 days was usually pretty manageable. The one exception was my sock-knitting challenge, which was, I admit, a bit of a failure. I learned that knitting a full pair of socks (or even one sock) in a month is just not realistic for me. Still, the rest of the challenges were fun, and I discovered that I can do a lot of things when I only have to commit to them for 30 days.
Will I continue these challenges into 2026?
I’m not sure. If I do, I think I’d want the challenges to follow a theme. I definitely hit my limit when it came to coming up with distinct ideas, and I worry I’d end up repeating things I already did in 2025. I want to try new things! I’ve been toying with the idea of switching to quarterly challenges, or choosing one or two habits and turning them into year-long challenges instead.
This has been such a fun year-long project! Thanks for following along as I did sit-ups, decluttered my space, filled my camera roll with photos, and wrote down all the things I’m grateful for.
2025 Monthly challenges:
January: Food budgeting
February: Sit-ups
March: Decluttering
April: Puzzles
May: Cozy Journaling
June: Granny Squares
July: Sock knitting
August: A picture a day
September: A poem a day
October: Finishing projects
November: Gratitude journal
December: More gratitude and a wrap-up
I loved hearing about your challenges throughout the year! They were so interesting, although I can see how it would be hard to come up with ideas for them.
Thank you! I definitely was running out of ideas those last couple of months. I have some new challenges planned for this year and I can’t wait.
I absolutely loved reading all of your challenges every month. It was so fun and, EXCUSE ME, that Sunflower bag! How dare you gatekeep. You’re inspiring me to do something similar. It’s just a great idea. Here’s to the new year, and trying new things, friend! 💕
Thank you! I love inspiring you to do something similar but don’t ask me for any ideas because I am completely out haha! I can’t wait for this year challenges; I think they are going to be good.