January Blog Challenge Results and New February Challenge

What do you like to experiment with? Experimentation, in my mind, is not only hugely fun but helpful. You may remember when we talked about getting un-stuck and trying new things . There's a bunch of positives involved with saying to yourself, "I don't have all the answers. I'm not sure that this new thing will provide me with anything other than failure (and potential ridicule), but I'm trying it anyway." 

In January I embarked on a 20-day blog challenge--you can read about my reasons for this here and here . What I've learned through this process: 
I remembered how much I LOVE blogging. There is something so satisfying about it and I love to share not only the pretty pictures of my day, but hopefully send some inspiration and motivation your way. The idea for the new series, From Fear to Flourish , came during this 20-day experiment. I'm psyched to embark on this new adventure and learn more about the ways that you plowed through fear and lived to tell the tale. It's reminded me to take awesome pictures. I love taking photos (I even started a board on Pinterest of Contentment in 2015) and knowing that I need photos for this blog helps me to slow down and look at things in my every day life a little differently. I've heard from some of you! Whether in the comments or via email, Facebook or Twitter, it's been great to get some feedback and connect with each of you. Thanks for taking the time.
There are other benefits from this challenge but I won't go into all the details here ... I need time to tell you about the February Challenge instead.

Remember last week when I was talking about nurturing and its importance ? Well, this month that's our focus. February and March are two of my least favorite months of the year (in New England it's the semi-end of winter and start of mud season which really is as ugly as it sounds). What better time to offer ourselves a little kindness than during these cold winter days? 

Want to join in? The challenge is simple:
Make a list of things that nurture you. It could be anything from asking a spouse or friend for a back rub to taking a bubble bath to browsing in a book shop or just noticing the way that the steam curls over your cup of tea while sitting in a sun-saturated room.Vow to incorporate one of these nurturing tasks for just 15 minutes each of 14 days this month. (I originally was thinking 20, but this is a short month and there's something special about the number 14 in February!)Tell me about your successes/challenges. You can email me at scared E catbooks (at) gmail (dot) com, or send a quick update via Facebook or Twitter. Or just leave a comment in any of the posts here. Would love to hear from you and see how you feel on the days when you meet your goal.