on life, ambitions, and dreams

Self-Reliance, Emerson, and the #Trust30 Challenge

trust yourself, The Shifted Librarian fortune cookie

It’s been just almost 6 months since my last blog-everyday-challenge. The first was National Blog Writing Month (NaBloPoMo) and the following month I participated in reverb10. To be honest, NaBloPoMo really changed my life. I learned a lot about myself as a person and finally came out as a writer – a person I have been since I was 6-years old but never self-identified as (I’ll save that for another post). But real life has stepped in and I’ve been writing in other places, like here and here. So when the team at The Domino Project told me about a challenge their launching today and asked me to write a prompt, how could I resist?

The #Trust30 Challenge

I’m excited to announce that today is the first day of the #Trust30 challenge. From the site:

#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey. Sign up below to receive the prompts by email. If you like this pledge, check out reverb10, it’s inspiring.

The Pledge Details

  1. The #Trust30 challenge starts at 6am ET on May 31st and runs for 30 days.
  2. Each day we’ll post a prompt from an original thinker and doer on RalphWaldoEmerson.me. You can also sign-up for daily emails.
  3. Fill out the short form below to commit to participating in the #trust30 online initiative.
  4. Blog, journal, or create something on each of the 30 days.
  5. Tweet using the hashtag #trust30 to show your support and involvement.

I love three things about this challenge:

  1. It was inspired by reverb10
  2. It’s a great way to give us creative types an excuse to create
  3. It’s one hell of a great way to market a book.

I am humbled to have contributed a prompt along with authors I admire like Jonathan Fields, Jenny Blake, Ashley Ambirge, Matt Cheuvront, Gwen Bell, and Sam Davidson.

To keep track of these brilliant minds and others who sign up to the challenge, I’ve created this list on Twitter: Trust30 (feel free to subscribe).

Why I am taking the challenge

Plus I’m not as familiar with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work as I am with Henry David Thoreau, and this is one great way to make his work “come alive” and experience it. Plus, good ol’ Ralph is all about trusting yourself – something I’m very much a fan of.

I have committed to the pledge, though after looking at my calendar for the upcoming month and knowing how much time I invested during NaBloPoMo, I know it’s going to be hard to stay on track.

But I’m going to try and I’d like you to help me.

Will you take the pledge and join me in the #Trust30 challenge?

What worked during NaBloPoMo and reverb10 was that I was not the only person doing this. If you come on board, please leave a link to your blog in the comments – I want to follow you too!

Photo Credit: The Shifted Librarian

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6 Responses

  1.  I joined in the challenge. Most of the reasons you gave speak to me too. Besides, it came at the same time I had decided to go back to more discipline in writing every day, which is often slipping away, because more “urgent” stuff takes precedence, which is a lame excuse for a writer as we all know!

    I’ll be happy to follow you and am looking forward to the surprises and self-discoveries lying ahead!

  2. Wow, what a challenge!! Sounds so inspiring, yet, seem very time-consuming. Have you started one for today’s yet?

    1. It’s going to be awesome, though you have to commit to it and even set a standard for how much time you’ll invest.

      No, I haven’t started today’s post. I will probably skip 1-2 prompts a week because real life happens (and I’m okay with that).

      Are you going to take the challenge, Miss Chi? 🙂

  3. Just found your blog through your Trust30 prompt, Laura (which, by the way, was one of the best for getting me to quit hemming and hawing and just admit that there are easy things I’m not doing). It’s been a challenging month thus far, certainly- I’ve ended up doing a lot of 4-5 prompt marathon posts in one free afternoon, rather than managing to make time every day to post.

    Still, it’s so great to force myself to write so much, and about things that matter- I’m so glad you’re on board too!

    1. Oh, I love how you’re cramming responding to prompts into marathon afternoons! I really like this challenge, but I’m sad to say that I’ve only published 6 or so of the prompts. Part of the reason is that time is especially scare this month and also some of the prompts are revealing things that aren’t ready to be published here yet. It’s an interesting line, but I like what I’m discovering.

      Glad my prompt helped you figure your goals out! Cheers to no more “hemming and hawing”!

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