This challenge was AWESOME! I’ve always had a crippling fear of judgement and rejection, and these 30 days of stepping out of my comfort zone forced me to face that fear head-on.

This challenge was part of a course I purchased a while back but never had time to complete. The basic premise was as follows: each day, I had a unique challenge to complete. Each one forced me to interact with between 3-5 strangers and grew progressively harder. Here are a few examples:

• Ask a stranger for the time (x5)
• Ask a stranger for directions (x3)
• Lie down in public for 20 seconds (x3)
• Yell something in a crowded area (x5)
• Ask a cute girl her favourite ice cream flavour (x5)
• Try to convince a stranger they’re saying a word wrong (x3)

As you can see, the challenges were quite varied and got progressively harder as the days went on. I missed a few days but made up for it later, so I completed all 30 challenges in the span of 30 days, interacting with a total of 118 strangers—that’s more people than I’ve interacted with in the past 3 years, lol.

Not every challenge was easy—I absolutely HATED the “Yell something in a crowded area” one—but I did it, and I’ve grown so much as a result. I even got a girl’s phone number (YAY!)

This challenge was the perfect setup for next month’s challenge—more on that later—and I’m actually looking forward to leaving the house so I can talk to strangers. It’s awesome.