Was at a funeral today and decided to skip my commitment to no refined sugars. Everyone needs a slice of cheesecake on a day like today.

Helping one new person a day has been really amazing and helped me be more intentional about how I care for others even when I have a lot of personal things going on that demand me to focus on myself. Giving myself permission to say YES or to not avoid someone one who clearly is going to ask me for help has been extremely rewarding. I have come to realize that no matter how stressed out I am or pinched for time, stopping what I am doing to help someone in need just gives my day more purpose and often doesn't interfere with me accomplishing my goals. Here are just some of the things I have been able to accomplish in the past 11 days:
-dog sitting
-giving a friend a ride
-giving a stranger $5
-helping an acquaintance find a place to stay for the night
-giving a friend some furniture
-feeding people!
-taking a friend out to lunch
-professional networking for a friend
-free web consulting for a friend's start up

Looking forward to keeping this going beyond the challenge. 

Gave my friend a ride, signed up for more dog sitting, providing advice, giving a hug, gave away some cash, cooking someone a meal, and still wanting more to do! I'm really loving this help one person a day thing. Not that I didn't help people before, but actively tracking it, and intentionally looking for opportunities to do so, means I just might notice when I'm not helping anyone but myself. If anyone needs any help with something, please let me know, this is getting addicting! Also......the no refined sugar is way harder than I though!

Didn't take the time I needed to prepare for my day and ended up leaving without my coffee mug! 

Helped my friend with some website and email development for her new business. This feels really good!

I felt an abundance of gratitude today! First thing this morning in fact. A beautiful birch tree in my front yard lost a limb to some extreme gusts of wind and fell onto my car. Fortunately, I saw it happen while I was in my home, so I wasn't in danger of being smacked by it. And while it hit my car, the damage is only cosmetic. I'm also super grateful for all the support I've been receiving while networking for a new job! 

Unfortunately, I completely spaced during lunch today and used a paper plate, but didn't compost it! It's all good though, cause now I'm brainstorming about  how we can reduce our usage of paper plates or compost items used during this particular meeting.

I already helped two people today! This is so fun and rewarding! I also am enjoying tracking my purchases. Keeps me frugal!!! Now I just need to figure out how to drink my coffee without sweetener as I don't like honey in my coffee and that's the only sweetener I can think of that isn't a refined sugar? I also need to pick the food documentary I will watch in the next two weeks. Any suggestions?

Okay it took me a while but I finally decided what my actions are going to be for EcoChallenge this year! I'm really excited to see how my Help Others action goes. I will have to be creative but it gives me a lot to blog about!

I'm looking forward to a fantastic EcoChallenge this year!

Stoked to watch our ELB kick some OEC staff butt this year with EcoChallenge!