Solitude Challenge

So! I decided to take the solitude challenge during my busiest week of the semester: finals week! And man, what a freakin’ disaster! If you don't know, I attended Southern New Hampshire University. I am a marketing major with an environmental studies minor.

For those of you that are unaware of what the solitude challenge is, well, you basically take 30 minutes to do nothing at all. You can’t be on your phone or computer, you can’t clean, fold laundry, you can’t read a book, watch TV, sleep, or listen to music. You literally sit there and. do. nothing. Well, that sounded great to me because I am so so so busy this week with like, a million things to do. I was reading online about solitude before I decided to take this challenge, and apparently solitude gives people a chance to regain perspective. That sounded great. I could really use some perspective as I am knee deep in finals.

So I sit down to do the solitude challenge and I realize that this was probably not the best time to do it because I immediately start getting anxiety about sitting here and not doing anything. My leg immediately starts to shake, and I start biting my nails thinking that I should be doing work instead of doing nothing at all.

Sooooo….. take 2. This time, I make sure to clear my mind. I prepare myself to do nothing for the next 30 minutes. And this time, it worked. After preparing myself, I was able to really clear my mind. I began to just meditate and focus on my breath. I sat and prepared myself for the upcoming week, the work I had do and it really focused my mind. The 30 minutes was over before I knew it. Once it was over, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the week and my assignments.

I really encourage everyone to do this challenge! It really is difficult to do, but once you do it, you won't regret it. I have decided I am going to try to do this more. It's important to have some time for yourself without distractions.

As always, thanks for reading!

#solitude #solitudechallenge