A Brave October: 10 Simple Ways to Make This Month Memorable

Days tick by fast.  The calendar is unrelenting.  Another weekend gone. A month, gone. The year, gone.  Just like that.

As those days and months pass, are you working out your brave?  Are you giving that muscle the exercise it needs or are you letting it atrophy, deteriorate, weaken?

Are you trying something new, digging a little deeper, fighting mundane and doing these days, weeks, and months well?

It takes effort and intention.  We’ve discussed that; it doesn’t happen on its own.  We have to think about it a little, set our minds on where we are going, and then step.  Step in and start moving.  Because those calendar pages are flying by with or without us.  With us standing by, helpless and distracted, or purposed and ready.  It’s our choice.

 

 

I spent yesterday at the state fair with my family.  I watched my three year old squeal with delight on a roller coaster. My 5 year old roll around in a bubble pool, My 7 year old and her friend enjoy their first elephant ear and my 10 year old master a “big kid” roller coaster.  And I hopped on the back of a camel and went for a ride.  Yes, yes I did.

We left our house just after breakfast and returned home long past dark, exhausted.  We spent October 1st well.  And while not every day can be a fair day (or we’d all be broke after a week!) I think we can, if we think about it, make October a brave month.  A month of trying new things.  A month of making sweet memories.  A month of intention and exercising our brave muscle so it’s even stronger when we are flipping the calendar pages to the next month.

With this is mind, and at the helm of a new month,I’ll give you some ideas to get you started, ideas for a brave October.

 

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1. Try something new.  I’m going to leave this one wide open for you.  Try a new recipe or a new restaurant.  Try chocolate covered potato chips or make a pot of gumbo.  Throw a dragon fruit in the cart next time you are at the grocery store or a pomegranate if that is too weird for you.  It doesn’t have to be outrageous just something new to you.  Last week I made these for the first time and they turned out perfect – a huge hit with the kids.  Find your thing – to bake, to make or to taste – and resolve to give it a try this month.

 

2. Get active.  Run a mile or 5.  Go on a hike.  A Pilates class?  Try something physical this month.  Get out your bike, your rollerblades, run stairs.  Get a Fitbit and walk 10,000 step every day for a week and challenge a friend to do the same.  Try out a kayak or canoe.  Whatever suits you, just think about one different physical activity that you haven’t done for months…or years…or ever…and make this the month to give it a try.

 

3.  Read something.  Wherever you are on your journey (that includes “I haven’t read a book since high school or college“), step this month.  Read a genre you’ve never read before.  A classic or a big fat book that intimidates you.  Some great fiction or a book on parenting, or motherhood or homeschooling if that is your gig.  I have read more books this year than any other year of my life and that simple commitment, that time well spent has been the catalyst for all kinds of growth (and this blog, even!).  So pick a book, a great book, to read this month.

 

4.  Play a brave game with friends or family.  Make some memories, intentionally.  We had all kinds of fun  with this one over the summer!

 

5. Re-kindle something.  Last weekend, while visiting my parents, my mom pilfered through some of my old piano books and sent them with us for the kids to use.  As I paged through those old books I began to remember my favorite songs from my 2 years of lessons, some 25 years ago.  So I sat down at the piano and played.  Rusty as I was, I hammered out O Holy Night again and again until it began to come back fluently.  And it was fun!  So I did it again the next night and looked up some printable sheet music online to plink away at a bit more.  I had forgotten how fun music can be.  So what have you let get dusty and dry and old?  Art? A foreign language?  Acting?  Riding horses?  Why not re-kindle it this month.  You don’t have to sign up for lessons and commit to something big.  Just dust it off a little.  Try it again, once.  Even once is brave and you might be surprised how much you still love it.

 

6.  Use chopsticks for dinner.  Because, why not?

 

7.  Connect with someone.  We were made for relationship.  There is so much life to be gained by connection with others.  But it takes vulnerability to put ourselves out there.  It takes brave.  Try intentionally connecting with someone this month.  Have a family over to dinner or ask a new friend out for coffee.  Invite a mama to a playdate with kids at the park or simply make a phone call and seek wise counsel from someone you look up to.  There are a million way to do this right, but the point is to stretch yourself, to do it. Calling your best friend doesn’t count, but asking a new acquaintance to be your walking partner does.  Be brave and forge new connections.

 

8. Roast pumpkin seeds or bake a fresh apple pie.  It’s the season.  Enjoy it! (You know my pie skills.  Can I just skip this one?)

 

9. Give your marriage a shot it the arm.  Marriage is marathon journey, with ups and downs.  It’s gets stagnant and weathered if we don’t tend to it.  We all know that.  So plan something this month.  Plan one thing to boost your marriage.  It could be a date night out or maybe a date night in.  I have a friend who will occasionally put the kids to bed and order Chinese takeout with her husband for an easy date night in.  It could be a weekend away or maybe just a thoughtfully written note that let’s your spouse know how much you appreciate them.  I don’t want this to be contrived, friends, that tends to miss the mark.  But you know your marriage.  What is one thing you might do this month that would strengthen it?  To make it better this month?  Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, just do it.

 

10.  Fortify your faith.  Memorize one scripture.  This one is great for starters.  Or try this online devotional, my personal favorite.  Dust off your old Bible and read through the passages you underlined and have loved for years or read the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan.  Copy your favorite chapter by hand, a few sentences every day.  It doesn’t matter, really.  Just step.  A little farther, little deeper.  And keep stepping.

 

So this is what it looks like for October.  A little more brave.

Let’s not make audacious goals that leave us feeling like brave fails at the end of the month.  Don’t commit to learning to play the piano or training to run a half-marathon by the end of the month.  Don’t make a guilt-laden check list with more boxes to check by the end of the month.  Just pick a couple of these.  A couple that jumped out at you, made you squirm a little because you knew you could try them, have been wanting to try them and haven’t made time.  Make a little time this month. Starting today.

Make the memories, spend the month well.  And do it bravely.

Here is the first brave step:  tell me about it.  I want to hear what you’re thinking.  What are you committed to trying?  How are you working out your brave for the month of October?  Be brave enough to say it; comment below and let me know.  Or take a pic and Instagram it with the hashtag #ichoosebrave.  I’d love to see it!

As for me, I’m going to read this before the movie comes out.  I’m going to play some more piano and get a few longer runs in. I already rode that camel and I think I’ll try to check off that goal of riding a bicycle built for two, as well.

It’s your turn.  Let’s make this month memorable.  Let’s do this month bravely!