My Lent - challenges The last lap of the race! Make sure to come checkout my progress and thank you for following.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been support me and following my progress!

I have have loads of great support from people all over the world, my pages views today look a little something like this...

So I'm looking back on my week of challenges again I cannot believe have just two weeks to go!

I feel like I've learnt a lot about myself doing these challenges, but we can always push ourselves more so I'm going to try and really push myself out of my comfort zone in the last two weeks.

If you would like to keep track of my progress daily follow me on any of my social links below...

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So this week I have completed the following challenges...

As Gaeilge - I had to speak in my native Irish tongue -  Challenged by Louis Donor
This was actually really fun and it challenged me to remember a lot of what I learned in school.
Not only has this inspired me to speak Gaeilge more, but it has also inspired me to learn a new language. I am going to take up learning Spanish this was a goal of mine last year that has been rekindled in my heart after realising what joy I get from speaking another language.

Hug day -  Challenged by I cant remember!
This was actually an amazing one and I need to thank whoever gave it to me! It was such lovely experience. Anytime someone asked me what my challenge I was doing. I got to give them a hug. As nation we are not really huggers other then with our possibly with our close family and friends. I think this is such a pity. Hugs are wonderful. I really feel like if people hugged more the world would be a better place. The best thing was that I or anyone I hugged didn't feel awkward it was just a really nice experience and challenged me to me more daring.

Thank you day- Challenged by I cant remember this one either :/ feel free to claim!
I especially loved this one anyone who watches my snapchats knows this is right up my street! I had to say thank you to everyone after every interaction I had. It made me very aware of how often and the main reasons I say thank you. I am a firm believer that we can never say thank you enough, even I   don't and this proved it. Saying thank you it not just mannerist is a necessity.

Compliment day-  Challenged by Sharon O Neil
I really loved this one to be honest and it made me feel so good. I feel like sometimes we stand back from being really openly honest and complimentary on a regular basis for fear of coming across as too nice or as always "sucking up" to someone. It felt so liberating to be able to compliment everyone honestly as it was my challenge of the day. This has taught me to just be honest and openly compliment someone it could really make someones day. It doesn't matter whats other people think. Positivity is something to be shared

Day of silence - Challenged by Nuala Goggins
This was by far the hardest challenge yet. I couldn't literally believe how hard I found it. I think I realised how social I am I found it really hard not to atomically start a conversation without even giving a second thought, let alone the fact that I was dying all day to get involved in the office banter. It was very very very hard for me to do this one and was a relief to be able to talk again I feel like not only did it make me appreciate my voice but it made me understand how hard it must be not to have this basic form of communication.

Day of silence - Challenged by me
I did this one to see if it was actually as powerful as people claimed and being honest it is. It was made me cry aware of my facial expressions and how they are perceived by others. Smiling is a wonderful expression of happiness and smiling alone without even feeling happiness almost has a knock on effect of making you feel happy. So I for one will be trying to do this all the time!

I hope you a inspired

Loves Annie xxx

My third week of Lent challenges! Follow my journey of hilarious challenges...

So its Monday again and most people are just contemplating what work load they have ahead of them. I am doing that and some..

I am thinking about all the challenges I am going to do this week and cringing at the thought of how embarrassing and challenging they are going to be!

I had a conversation with someone recently in which they stated that these challenges would be more impactful on someone with less confidence than me, like someone who is normally quiet or quite withdrawn. I got the point but I feel the only reason I have the personality I do and the reason why I am so out going is because I have pushed myself, repeatedly to do things that scared me. 

I feel like it doesn't matter how confident someone may seem, there are things that scare the crap out of them and regardless, you can never push yourself enough in this life. Just because a person may seem confident does not mean that they are, I personally have certain level of confidence but feel like it is being put to the test with these challenges. you have to push yourself to go into uncomfortable situations in life if you ever want to progress.

So on with my challenges 

Stand up and touch my toes challenge - Ian Hobbs (make a fool of myself challenge basically!) So every time somebody around me cursed, coughed or sneezed I had to stand up and touch my toes. You can image how this went down, thankfully only one person coughed on the tube! It was however quite embarrassing in the office when people realised what my challenge was and I did receive the odd curious look when I had to complete the challenge in the canteen.

Consult someone else challenge -  Edward Hordley
So for the day if anyone asked me any question at all I had to refrain from answering it and simply turn to the person next to me to consult with them. This was quite challenging from a memory perspective. It also called for some restraint on my part, as the simple question "are you having a good day "turned into a serious of consultations when people began realising what my challenge was!

Shades challenge - Darren Hill 
For this challenge I had to wear sunglasses all day. As you can see below these were not just any sunglasses they were specially chosen for this challenge by Lawrence Hill and Joe Pearson. (my work colleagues) This was actually one of the hardest challenges this week as people were looking at me like I had lost my mind.

I was actually blessed in that the sun was shining when I left my house but by the time I had gotten to work it was lashing rain. The worst part of it was the tube journey, numerous women who sat opposite me just sat there staring at me and for quite sometime no one would sit beside me! In the canteen and general areas of the office building I was also greeted by an array of double takes and judging looks. As the office is quite big, not everyone is aware that I am completing these challenges so to them, I just looked insane.

This was by far the most challenging challenge of the week. It was constant and there was no escaping the judging looks. I learnt a lot from this one, I realised there was absolutely nothing I could do. I simply looked insane, so when people stared I had to ignore then and not care what they are thinking!


Third person challenge - Kate Dives For this challenge I had to speak in the third person all day. This one I also found quite difficult, but also quite interesting. I fell like I was narrating my own life, which got me thinking, we each as individuals do write our own lives.

We are brought up to think our lives are based on what life throws up at us and how we are raised. But it has absolutely nothing to do with it, yes we may be placed in more abundant or derelict lifestyles or situations but its up to what life gives to us.

It is entirely up to us what we make out of what we art given. Anything is possible,  it doesn't matter how impossible a dream seems and if we each want to have a great life and  story, we have to get of the bench and start writing one!

Thank you challenge - Anonymous 
This was one of my favourites challenges, it meant I had to say thank you after eve interaction I had with another person. I feel like it made me more aware of what I was saying. I ended up saying thank you to my office at the end of the day for there amazing company. This was not something I would normally do Bu rafter spending the day saying these two beautiful words I felt like I wanted to keep saying them. I will be sure to practice from now on as I received a lovely feeling from uttering these words so much. I also realised that I do not thank the people in my everyday life enough for making each day amazing.

I hope you are inspired

Loves Annie xxx

P.S Please feel free to comment and challenge me!