Linda Dunn dared me, and I dared her back, and now she and I are both daring everyone who reads this journal, and especially the other members of the NAW.

Nope, not a novel dare. This is a Dare to have a longer, more enjoyable life. Our dare is very simple, actually: for the next 12 weeks, Do Something. Set a personal goal, or just make a habit of an activity. Your goals can be as nebulous as "I want to feel better and have more energy." Or your habit can be as simple as "Three times a week I will walk to the end of the block and back" or as ambitious as "I want defined abdominals!" But, for 12 weeks, Do Something. Take a hard look at your life, your energy levels, your emotional state, how often you get sick. Do Something. I dare you. For 12 weeks.

My personal goals for the dare are:
1)Stick with the level of exercise I'm at now for a full 12 weeks. I've never been able to stay with it for longer than about 6 weeks before--I end up getting bored or find some reason to stop going to the gym. And I get mad at myself when I finally do get back in the gym, because I see such results when I exercise, that I want to yell at myself, "A little more willpower and you'd have the figure you wanted by now!" So, 12 weeks. No giving up.
2)Stay good about the nutrition as well. The occasional cheat day is allowed for the sake of sanity--but the cheat day is not allowed to extend more than 24 hours, and is allowed no more than once every two weeks. (I was having cheat weeks before!) Pay more attention to my protein and carb intake, with the proper balances of each.
3)Get back to where I can do 50 pushups again.
4)Get tan. ;-)

So join us. DO something. Don't be intimidated by how much I do or don't do--find something that you think will work for you. Age, size, gender, or time constraints are not acceptable excuses. Email me, and I'll be thrilled to give advice, support, info on resources, whatever. If you're a journaller, I dare you to join us and say so in your journal. If you're not a journaller, email me anyway. Perhaps I can start another page on my website just for this dare, as was done in the past for novel dares. (Maybe after this dare I'll even try a novel dare again! God knows I need to kick-start my writing again..lol)

It starts January 21st. Be there. Do Something.

I double-dog dare you!