The challenge that I did for my second week of Earth month was to go outside as much as possible instead of watching TV or playing video games. While doing this challenge, I found that the hardest part was that going outside to do something is much more of a commitment in terms of time and energy than staying in is. I found that if I had homework but wanted to take a short break before doing it, I would always worry about how long it would take for me to go out and do something because that almost always requires me to walk somewhere first and shower after. I also found myself considering whether or not I would have the energy left to do my work if I went and did something active, but after convincing myself to actually try it, I found that being tired was not too much of an issue.
I also found that time seems to move much more slowly when you are active and moving around; when I used to sit inside for an afternoon, it would fly by and seem like the blink of an eye. When going outside, I found that I would feel satisfied with my break in a much shorter amount of time and I would also feel like I had actually accomplished something after, so even though I would have to shower after, it actually took less time and I felt better after.
Over the course of the week, I was able to do some of my favorite activities such as skateboarding and rock climbing much more frequently than I usually do, which made the week very enjoyable. My next challenge, which is to take colder showers, will not be nearly as fun. It is going to be extremely difficult to convince my tired self to get out of bed ad into a cold shower in the morning, but I am hoping that once I do it, I will get out much faster and therefore have a little more time in my day. This time could be spent outside, doing homework, or even sleeping, but no matter what it will be better spent outside of the shower.