***Author’s note: Day 13’s task was technically completed a little after 12:00 am on Day 14; which is why this particular post’s publishing date is listed as 10/26/12.
I’ve decided to count down to the Georgia-Florida football game and an in-home spa day I have planned for my first Saturday off. I plugged in the start time and date of the college football game into a form on Timeanddate.com website. And now I’m watching the seconds tick off one by one towards the big game.
I love college football and as a University of Georgia alumna, I am a huge Bulldog fan. Plus, I love pampering myself with in-home spa days. So what I’ve got planned for Saturday is perfect for me!
However, though Day 13’s task has been completed, I think to get the full effect and meaning of this task, I need to wait a few more hours in anticipation for the fun day I’m counting down to. I’ll wait until tomorrow afternoon, after I get home from work to finish writing this post. That way I’ll be able to truly judge the effectiveness of this task on stress reduction.
It won’t be a re-do like Day 12; it’ll just be a more updated and detailed analysis of Day 13’s task that will be posted on this page tomorrow.
Thanks so much for following along and being patient with me as I attempt all of the tasks in this program. It is definitely greatly appreciated.
————————————————-Day 13 Update: Friday, 10/26/12 —————————————–
While I am excited about watching the Georgia-Florida game and having my spa day tomorrow, I don’t think Day 13’s task did much to extend my happy anticipation of it.
I think for me it may actually have the opposite effect. Instead of going: Yay, only 16 hours left until the game! I just think: 16 more hours?! I can’t wait that long…I wanna see the game now!
Maybe it depends on what you’re counting down to. I’m counting down to a football game that is crucial to my favorite team’s future this season. So that could be an underlying source of stress that a countdown can’t fix. A countdown might actually make it worse; because even though watching these games are fun, it is a bit stressful when you’re a huge fan like me and so much is at stake for this one upcoming game and especially when the outcome is currently unknown.
So really, for me, my stress wasn’t reduced and my sense of happy anticipation wasn’t enhanced. Everything just kind of stayed the same.
Wow, this might be the first time that one of these tasks didn’t give me a marked improvement in my mood or stress level. But that was the point of me doing this program: to find out what works for me and what doesn’t. This task didn’t really work for me. Now I know.
I’d like to thank SELF Magazine for posting the article, “14 Days to a Happier, Healthier You!” , which inspired this blog post.
I hope you’ve all had a lovely day!
Anita M. George: Journalist, Writer 