The Art of a Challenge

People say they want to coast and relax. People say they want to sit back and enjoy a beverage by the pool for the rest of their lives. People say they want to retire from day-to-day commitments and reasons to put in effort. If any of these people get their wish, they will enjoy the downtime for a period. They will be able to reset, and simply enjoy doing nothing. After a certain amount of time, a period of time much shorter than the rest of their lives, they will get the itch back. The itch to do something. The itch to work for something. The itch to commit action for a purpose. Inevitably, challenges scratch these itches and get them back to being who they really want to be, a person working to achieve.

Personal challenges are a form of art because they enable us to paint a canvas of our lives with meaningful purpose. When we create our own challenges, aspirations, or measures of achievement, we crave a sense of fulfillment that can only be quenched by working towards the end goal. Relaxing and taking time to ourselves is a part of life that is valuable, but using intentional periods of strain helps bring a spark back to our lives. Challenges provide missing value and meaning for the hours of our lives we have to ourselves.

Mental and physical are inherently the two broad categories these sorts of challenges fall into. The beautiful aspect of the art of challenges is their subject matter and duration can encompass anything and can span any length. There can be immediate physical goals as well as short-term mental challenges. You can strain to go to the gym 5 times this week while also working to complete the 1,500-piece puzzle on your table. Or far-reaching challenges can be established where daily bricks of progress are stacked to achieve over the long run. While physical and mental challenges are the two broad categories of challenges they are categories that should overlap in our lives. Everyone should aim to work their bodies while also working their minds. Challenges promote wellness in both of these areas while also promoting growth. Through effort and belief in what we are doing, we are able to find purpose. Purpose is what keeps us excited about each day. Find purpose through personal challenges and set out to achieve.