The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge Wrap Up PDF + Giveaways + End of Year Notes
As 2009 comes to a close I can say with confidence, I "squeezed that lemon."
[Download the PDF for The Best of 2009 Challenge]
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Updated Jan 2, 2010
Super Amy, you win the one-on-one consultation with Patrick Reynolds!
Abbie, you win the copy of the Social Web Guide!
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December 2009 has been a balm. Thirty-one days in which I've felt uplifted, reminded and deeply grateful.
I started The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge on an important day in my life. I started it on the anniversary of my mom's death, November 30th. I know her death has allowed me to share, in a small way, the most important lesson we can learn. We get to choose to show up each day with a spirit of mindfulness - with the desire to grow.
The holidays are a notoriously hard time of year for many of us. It's easy to tune out and ignore them. I started the challenge to reflect - in part to keep myself out of an end-of-year slump. To make a few new friends. Maybe learn something about myself and a few of you.
I anticipated it would be a small gathering of friends who wanted to review their year. What happened surprised me. What started as as an idea was, by the end of day one, 244 participants strong. Everyone joined in for different reasons. Some of you wanted to commit to writing daily for a 31-day period. Some of you wanted to get started blogging and saw this as a good opportunity to start.
The challenge, for the energy I've put into posting daily to your blogs and to mine (sometimes twice or three times daily to my own) has come back to me one-hundred fold.
Thank you for your participation and enthusiasm this month. It has sustained me. To borrow from Avatar, I see you.
[Download the PDF for the #best09 challenge]
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Today is the last day of the challenge. The prompt asks what resolution you wish you'd kept. Next year, I intend to keep my body in the condition I was in for the Peak Condition Project. Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a one-on-one personal fitness consultation with Patrick Reynolds, founder of the Peak Condition Project ($120 value).
Yesterday, I registered for a half-marathon (affectionately known as The Tiarathon) - at Disney. It's in March. And I'm eight days into my eleven-week training for that. (Follow #tiarathon.) You asked which character I chose (note this is a required question):
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Tomorrow, prices go up on the Social Web Guide I co-created with Chris Guillebeau. Chris has the details, but what you want to do is either go buy one now - or enter in the comments for a last-minute chance to win one of the Rockstars. Currently valued at $129.
Two winners - one for the fitness consultation & one for the guide - will be chosen at 12a MST January 1, 2010.
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The follow-up project to #best09? Announced here.
Let's squeeze that lemon in 2010.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Reader Comments (33)
I am so glad I participated in this challenge -- even if I wrote 8 entries in the last 2 days and backdated them all so I could finish in time... :D
At the end of November I turned to my friend and said "I want to blog more but I don't know what to write about." A few days later, you launched this challenge, and now I am totally practiced and prepared for more open, reflective, interesting, and frequent blogging in the new year. Thank you!
That is awesome Gwen! All the best for the brand new year! I am glad we met this year! Cheers!
Even though I only managed a few #best09 blogs and then got overwhelmed by life, I want you to know what a difference it made for me, Gwen. It got me prospecting for the gleams of good in a year that was mostly pretty rough, and discovering there were many of them. It introduced me to great people, with lots more blogs to dip into in 2010.
I hope there will be some way to keep this going. I thank you for all your incredible efforts.
Much love! Mahala
Congratulations on a successful challenge!! Do it next year, OK? And then maybe I will try to do it too!
Gwen,
Many many thanks for creating the challenge. Luckily, I joined the first day so I didn't miss a single day or topic. I have wanted to blog more and this challenge showed me that I could write on a daily basis and create content on my site.
I am looking forward to your hinted at project.
As 2009 quickly fades I just want to wish you and yours a prosperous new year!
Thanks and peace to you!
Les
I've said it before and I'll say it again - this challenge has changed me and saved me, knowing you has changed me and saved me. People who don't know better might dismiss what I just wrote as melodramatic. It is anything but. It is simple. It is true. I'll hold this month under a special light in my memory. Thank you. And I'm so glad it exceeded your expectations. What a gift that keeps on giving! I can't wait to learn what new project you have in store for 2010. I feel it in the marrow of my bones - it's going to be an astounding year.
Much love and happy new year! xo -em
I picked up one of the Rockstar Social Web Guides yesterday and can't wait for my session with you, Gwen. And though I've only begun to check out the numerous parts of the Guide(s), it already is obvious it's well worth the price!
Gwen, so many folks have said this already, but even tonight as I was reflecting (while driving down the road) on the Challenge, I thought to myself that I have been hugely changed by it - by YOU. Taking time to reflect, specifically, on what the year 2009 held deepened my gratitude!!
Thank you so much for opening this opportunity to us!!
Happy New Year Gwen! I am finishing my catch up #best09 post tonight! This has been so fun to reflect on the whole year! I am excited to see what you have up your sleeve in the new year..
2009 was a biggie for me - and Gwen, finding you amongst the noise of the interwebs was a high point. We have one IRL person in common, so perhaps one day we'll shake hands. Until then, thanks. You made me think, and I appreciate that. Happy 2010!
This challenge was a lot of fun to participate in and helped me reflect on what turned out to be an amazing, life-changing year. Can't wait to see what your new 2010 project is!
THANK YOU so much to Gwen Bell for this challenge and to Bryce Widom for suggesting I give it a try. I did it. And not only did I blog every prompt, but I created a blog! Yes, I was so inspired and motivated by this project that I started a blog of my very own just so I could participate! You have no idea how much the Best of 09 challenge has meant to me. I shed a lot of tears while reflecting, writing and sharing my thoughts and I hate to sound dramatic, but I am physically and mentally worn out fby this project. In a good way. This was an amazing and harrowing journey but I am so thankful that I participated. I am even more thankful that you, Gwen Bell, had the vision and the generosity to share it with us. 2009 was in so many ways my worst year as well as my best year and I am truly sad to see it go. Thank you old and new friends alike for sharing your experiences with the rest of us. Much health, happiness, and success to all of you in the new decade.
All the very best to you in the new year Gwen, and thank you again for this wonderful opportunity to challenge us, and propel us forward into 2010.
This has been a great and fun experience. It has helped me become a daily blogger. Thanks! :)
Happy New Year and congratulations on the success of Best 09. I wanted to say thanks not only for your own writing but also for introducing me to many other bloggers I've been learning from this year, like Chris Guillebeau.
Enjoy the half marathon, the training experience and the fellowship of runners. In my experience nothing teaches your lack of limitations more than preparing for and finishing an endurance event that seemed impossible when you started. I've got a long history of running, triathlon and adventure racing under my belt, but for the last couple years all of that energy has gone to my kids. I'd love to pick Patrick's brain about making holistic fitness part of my life for the long term.
First, thank you for the challenge. This is the first lengthy "challenge" I have committed to and completed.
Second, yay for signing up for a 1/2! Having just set my intention to run the Marine Corps marathon (will be my 4th marathon - yikes!) I would LOVE to win the personal fitness consultation.
Lastly, mastering social media is one of my goals for 2010 so the Rockstar guide would definitely help that - I had no idea it was even out there! If I don't *win* one, I will totally consider buying it anyway!
Thanks for the challenge! While I found it late, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Strangely enough, the day I found this challenge I also signed up for a half marathon training program. I look forward to hearing about your training.
Winning the Social Web Guide would be a great way to start this new year. Thanks for the giveaway and for your very inspiring blog. It's an excellent addition to my day.
Even though I wasn't able to post as often as I would have liked, your challenge kept me in reflective mode through December which was a pretty good place to be! I'm going to do a bit of a New Year's Eve summing up on my blog before bed.
I did it. All 31 days. Whew and wow. Gwen, it was a pleasure. Happy New Year.
It has been such an insightful experience. I love what you say about it all coming back to you a hundred fold. You created a circle that has encompassed so much and it's only right that the circle should complete with you. I am sure that what has been created here in December 2009 will continue to "give" throughout 2010. I have the list of best09 prompts in my 2010 diary to be more mindful. I have made new connections, so many kindred spirits.
I was very moved to see my words in your best09 PDF - thank you.
Much happiness to you in 2010.
hi gwen,
the challenge was great fun and i`m looking forward very much to your new ideas and to my new ideas.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
would love to win one of the social web guides.
best from berlin,
anja
Thanks so much for your good ideas and good energy, and thanks also to everyone who participated. It was lots of fun, and I was glad to have some structure for writing and also for discovering new writers. Happy New Year!
Gwen, you are always inspiring! I've enjoyed reading your posts this past month - they've given me a lot of food for thought!
Best wishes for a wonderful 2010! I start training for a 5K today (I do not love running. At all.) but I have to admit that a Tiarathon sounds AWESOME! If I fall in love with running again, maybe I'll do it next year!
Happy New Year!
This has been a really fun and thought-provoking challenge. Thanks for sharing it, Gwen! I had fun getting back into blogging regularly, and turned out to be a great way to jump-start 2010. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you very much for this opportunitie to be a better blogger. I tried to do this on my norwegian blog, and it worked :)