52 weeks to freeplaylife challenge ~ weeks 1 to 6

I have been participating in a fun challenge this year. We are on week 7 now. This challenge is organized by Tiffani from freeplaylife. The idea is to embrace our true selves, and live our lives to the fullest. Well, that's what I take from it anyway.

Here is a little recap of the previous challenges:

Week One: Listen to what you need. Then get it.

That week, Tiff suggested we make a Pinterest board to help us visualize what it is we need and want. My board (you can visit it here) had several non-tangible things I need like peace, happiness, long lasting love, to continue spending lots of time in nature, live at the beach, more dates with my husband, more train travel, never grow up, etc... I also include a few material things like more fingerless gloves, another tattoo, Toms shoes, a homemade hoop (and learn how to hoop), and a new camera (which I got - thanks to my supportive and generous husband!!).

Week Two: Others can’t see you if you don’t see yourself first. So start by taking self portraits!

This challenge was fun. I have been doing self portrait challenges for a while now, so I really played with this one. I decided to add makeup, yellow eyeshadow, which I so rarely do! It turned out sparkly, cosmic, and fun!

Week Three: Go back and remember what you were like growing up. Find that playful kid and bring her along on your journey.

We used Pinterest again to document our journey. Looking back wasn't always easy, but it was necessary. I created a board called "All about me me me". The description I added said it all:  "I am playing archaeologist for my own life so far. Not everything will be happy or beautiful, but being truthful is important when you are excavating the past". It was interesting, painful, and fun to be our own archaeologist and dig up the past. I found seeing some of the things I pinned really helped me appreciate the good things in my childhood (lots of traveling) and also want to hug and comfort the little girl that had the not-so-good times too.

Week Four: Find a theme song to remind you that you are a badass superhero!

Finding a theme song was so fun and difficult at the same time...how do you pick just one?! I re-read her post and decided to apply her way of thinking. Here are her words:

Find a theme song.
Make it something you can really shake your ass too!
Make sure it has a catchy phrase that you can sing in your head when the douchebags try to get you down.
Get it on your iphone/computer/ipad, so you can groove to it any time.

It became clear then that it had to be a fun song that I would love putting on super LOUDER in the car or at home. A song that I can't help but want to stand up and dance with. So here is my superhero theme song:





Week Five: You need a superhero costume

First of all, in between her challenges, lots of stuff happens at freeplaylife. Like the ass shots!! This went viral and it was awesome to see so many participating. I chose to stay in my favourite jeans and even keep my rainbow gloves on (I love those, a good friend made them for me!).

For the superhero costume, I created another Pinterest board. I really appreciated that her challenge didn't mean "go out and buy stuff". Instead we could pin to our heart's content, whatever we liked, the weird, the cool, the oh-my-I-would-never-wear-that (because maybe one day we would!), everything that catches our eye. She did encourage us to clean out our closets, get rid of anything we truly didn't like. I don't have a lot of clothes, and now I have even less. Just my favourites and it feels great. Here is a quick snapshot of my board, and if you want to see more, and there's much more, go here.

Week Six : Go make yourself a superhero.

Using this Marvel fun activity, we created our own superheros! This was so much fun and my kids created their own too. I love seeing their creative choices. My superhero is named TerraLuv. She is a little gypsy, a lot earth-loving-mama, and of course she has white hair. Her boots, cape and her hair wrap is awesome, in my opinion.

This is a challenge that I have grown to love. Every week, I wonder what Tiff is going to come up with.

I can see the effects already spilling into my life. One part is in the self portraits. I have told my friends they should try it out, I have also encouraged flickr friends to join me in taking self portraits. Here is what I said in below my last selfie:

fridays = self love

Part of the 52 Fridays Self Portrait Challenge. The theme for February is what we love.
I believe that you have to love yourself in order to love others. Self portraits may help you discover a part of yourself that you didn't know or had forgotten. Especially as a busy mom, it's easy to put ourselves on the side at times, but it's important to take time for ourselves. It didn't take long for me to do my hair a little better than usual and put a little make up on, then take a few shots. I am not ashamed to say that I really like this photo.
I encourage anyone to go and take a self portrait...go on, do it! 

I have always believed that it is important to go after your dreams. I feel even stronger about this now, because of this challenge. Why settle for less? We all need to enjoy our current lives. Live in the moment. Do what YOU want. I homeschool our children, but it doesn't mean that I should be squashing my own interests. I also think it is super healthy for our children to see us enjoying and following our passions. I picked up my art journal just last week and started doodling in it. I created my own Facebook photography page, just because I wanted to and even though I am not a professional photographer, I am proud to display my art.

So, if you want to participate in freeplaylife challenge, go for it! Let me know if you do by leaving me a comment.