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It's that time again, Queens. Fresh off the heels of our September Challenge, where we practiced gratitude, today, we look towards the month of October and a new challenge.
Before we get into the new, let's recap how September went.
WAAYY UP, I FEEL BLESSED
Queens, in order for me to describe to you how great September's Best You Challenge worked for me, I need to take it back to the end of August. Actually, let's go all the way back to January 2020, where I decided that I would need to move. For six months, I saved up and searched for a new home. Thankfully, I found a beautiful place, literally right across the street from where I was living before. It was a townhouse that set on the edge of a river. The most beautiful home I have ever lived in. I applied, was approved and moved into the townhome on Juneteenth.
Check out these pics Queens! It was such a beautiful home. I felt so blessed to be living in a place where the address was just the number on the house and the street name. I didn't need to add "Apt. ###" to the end. I felt the need to buy a ring doorbell device just to watch over my packages. I was meditating and taking spa baths frequently. I was filming more for both Phorbe and my personal page Queen Maree. I felt like that was the place I could live for the next 2-3 years to really work on healing from trauma, building my relationship with self and taking my blog and business to the next level.
Fast forward to Wednesday August 26, 2020. Mind you, this was just 1 day after I had made the decision to decline a huge job promotion at work. My landlord approaches me to tell me that he needs to sell the townhome because #COVID has had a negative effect on his business. He told me he would rather sell the townhome and secure a financial cushion than sell his business and put all of his employees out of a job. The problem with all of this, was that I had signed a one year lease for the place.
Can you imagine the immediate stress I was under? I had fallen in love with this place within the two months that I had lived there. The uncertainty was nerve wrecking. I knew I had the legal right to stay there, but I also knew that Covid had caused so many problems for so many people this year and I didn't want to leave this guy in a difficult situation.
I got on the phone that Saturday with my best friend at 11am. By 11pm, we were still on the phone and had come up with a plan. She would move into a new apartment in the complex she lived in and I would take the second room. That way I would have place to go to and I can negotiate my landlord buying me out of my lease.
By August 30th, I moved out of my beloved townhome with a huge check from the landlord and a thank you for working with him on this issue. Although I was umpteen dollars richer, I had to fight extremely hard to keep depression away. It felt like I had taken a huge step back. I had just leveled up, moved up from an apartment to a house. I didn't have to put "Apt ###" at the end of my address whenever I wrote my address. Plus I had to move from northern Orange County to central Orange County in a city, I've never really liked. My apartment was ghetto, my room was small and I was just so unhappy.
I couldn't see the huge blessing this had become: I had just cashed a huge check, I'm saving over $300 on monthly bills, I'm living with my best friend, being in central OC means that the commute to work is shorter. I couldn't focus on any of this because I was so sad and distraught about leaving this new home that I had fell in love with. I had a plan and all of a sudden that plan vanished with one conversation. I could have stayed, but that would have caused more problems than I was willing to go through. I kept asking God, why. Why did he give me this beautiful home and then take it away so quickly? What was I supposed to learn from this situation? I was angry, I was sad, I was stressed, depressed, everything except for happy that everything, in the end, had worked out for everyone involved.
I was on a downward spiral Queens and I needed to climb my way out before I got too deep. It just so happens, that I had done a few videos on gratitude, recently, that were very well received by the Queendom. That prompted me to write a blog post on how to practice gratitude. That gave me the idea to make September's Best You Challenge all about Gratitude.
Queens, my problem was that I was stuck on nothing but negativity and the only way to get your mind off the negativity and on the positive track is to literally force your mind to think of all the positivity happening in your life at the moment.
That's exactly what the challenge did for me. It forced me, every day, for 21 days to look for three positive things that happened or brought me joy each and every day. In doing that, I was able to slowly climb my way out of the negative pool of despair I almost drowned myself in. I started thinking more positive, was no longer complaining, or bad mouthing my new apartment.
At the end of the 21 days I even found myself thinking and saying things like: I love my room. Or, whenever someone would ask me how I'm settling in, I'd say nicely. Practicing gratitude helped me stop the self pity party and get back to living my life. Everything happens for a reason Queens. I discovered the reason for this major shift in my life and decided to stop looking back and move forward.
All of that, in just twenty one days Queens. Imagine what would happen in your life if you practiced gratitude every single day for a full month, for a year? Practicing Gratitude is definitely a good habit that I have added to my success toolkit. I hope after this challenge, you'll add it to yours too.
OCTOBER'S BEST YOU CHALLENGE:
MOVE YOUR BODY
Queens, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. 2020 has been a tough year for so many reasons for so many people. The holidays are right around the corner and I don't know about you all, but I believe we can all use all the holiday cheer we can get.
Many times, once the holiday season rolls around we set plans for how we're going to eat and spend money and that all ends up going out the window because all the food is tempting you and all the stores are whispering your name. However, this year, Queens, I encourage you to truly enjoy the holidays. Go all out, as if it was your last holiday season. Make the most of this season as safely as you can.
That doesn't means spend all of your money until you're broke. Or to eat all the food you come across, tripling your weight and your risk of diabetes. No, I want you to have fun, but within reason. To help out with that a little bit, this month's challenge, is a cardio challenge, geared specifically towards the food problems the holidays bring.
Think about it. If you start amping up your cardio now, you'll create a habit of burning calories so that once the real eating of the holidays rolls around, you'll already be used to burning off a lot of the calories that you eat.
Catch my drift?
What is the Challenge
So, this month, the challenge is simple. I feel like I say that every month, but Queens, have we met a #BestYou Challenge that we couldn't beat yet? The goal is to complete 30 minutes of cardio every single day.
What is cardio? Any physical activity that gets your heart pumping faster and keeps your heart rate at that elevated speed for an extended period of time. That could be a brisk walk, a run, jumping jacks, squat jumps, burpees, a game of basketball, a swim, a game of tennis, a game of tag. Anything that get's your heart racing and your sweat pouring. Cardio is a great way to burn calories and in it's simplest form, the best way to loose weight or maintain your weight is to burn more calories than you eat.
How Do You Join the Challenge
There are thirty one days in October, which means, this month's challenge will begin on October 11th. On that day, I'll post the image for this month's challenge on all of Phorbe's socials. Comment "I'm in" underneath that post to join the challenge.
Don't forget to check back in weekly for updates, accountability, and maybe even a raffle or two.
So what do you say Queens? Are you up for the challenge of moving your body now, so that you can indulge in all of your holiday favorites later?
Let me know, in the comments below, if you plan on joining this month's challenge.
Run into the Queen you're meant to be and SLAY!!!
-Queen Maree
ORIGNALLY PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 7, 2020