If you’re joining us for the challenge this year, congratulations! Over the month of February, we hope you will take your wellness to a new level. And not just by doing an activity for a month. The big idea, really, is that the experience will cement the idea of WELLNESS into your thinking – all the time.

So, your challenge needs to be at least a bit fun, and it should be a challenge that pushes you a bit out of your comfort zone. It should be difficult enough that, when you look back on it, you will be able to say you accomplished something.

I may have said this in the past, but I really believe we don’t get our self-esteem from participation ribbons; we get self-esteem from accomplishments, from achieving something. Our mission should be to always be working to achieve something meaningful and which just exceeds our grasp, to paraphrase Robert Browning. So if I were to sum it up, it would go like this:

Accomplishment requires effort.

Effort requires motivation.

Motivation requires determination.

Determination is guided by attitude.

Attitude is a decision.

I hope that through this February challenge, your attitude will point toward taking your wellness more seriously. 27 days to go!