What I Learned During a 21 Day Manifesting Challenge
The backend of 2021 was not the best for me. As the months passed, I kept getting more and more discouraged, and borderline depressed, over where I was at in my life. My career was not taking off in the direction I wanted it to, the added pandemic restrictions around the holidays made it hard if not impossible to see family, I was working through some health concerns that did not seem to be getting better, and as the days went on, I just kept feeling more and more sad and desperate.
I hated the feeling. That feeling of being out of control and slowly spiralling towards a pit of despair is not my jam. I just couldn’t get out of my own way, and I knew I needed a push in the right direction, or I was just going to keep sinking deeper and deeper.
That’s when the universe put a manifestation challenge right in my path. I was scrolling through Instagram stories, and there it was as a targeted ad. Not super surprising considering the content I search, but it was just what I needed when I needed it. It was a 21-day manifesting challenge, and it was starting the next day. I didn’t hesitate, I signed up on the spot. I’ve always believed in having the ability to manifest your dreams, but I was in a place where I didn’t have the energy or ability to do it for myself.
The 21 days flew by. Each day, a new component of the challenge would open up. You could do it at your own pace, but I chose to start each day with a challenging activity. It was a great way to set myself up for the day and didn’t give me any excuses to skip a day or a challenge component. After the 21 days were over, I felt refreshed and I had honestly, a new sense of hope and determination.
There were things I was able to identify in myself that I wouldn’t have been able to on my own. There were also certain components of the challenge that stood out to me more than others and were key in helping me shift my perspective.
How to focus your manifestation: There can be a lot of frustration surrounding manifestation. The common misconception is that you just “wish” for something, and it appears. Unfortunately, that’s not how manifesting works. In order to manifest something into being, you have to have a very specific and focused goal or end result. The manifesting challenge helped me to focus in on mine. For example, if you are looking for a new career or job, simply trying to manifest new employment likely won’t yield the results you are hoping for. Knowing that you want a new job, the next steps are to focus in on the specifics of this new employment: what kind of office environment are you hoping for? What field do you want to work in? What kind of role or seniority do you want? Keep narrowing it down until you have a clear picture of the job that you want. You can even write down the title you’re hoping to have. Knowing exactly what you’re working towards is the first step towards manifesting your goals.
2. How to shift from negative to positive vibrations: This is key. Often when we want something really badly, if we don’t get it, we start to trend towards negative feelings. Instead of taking a step back and evaluating what could be done to move towards our goals, we tend towards frustration, sadness, anger and jealousy. Seeing other people succeed in areas we are striving towards is just one of the triggers that can send you into the negative emotion zone. Now, with social media, seeing other people’s successes, both real and perceived, are even harder to avoid. This is where the activity of ‘choosing again’ comes into play. Being upset about not achieving a goal is understandable, but when we wallow in that feeling, we continue to feel bad, and often start to feel worse. When we shift those emotions towards positivity, we start to see more of what we are looking for, attract to us.
Let’s go back to the career example. If you haven’t been successful in your job hunt and keep seeing other people being successful or getting new jobs, instead of envying what they have, intentionally reach out. Congratulate people on their successes, ask about their jobs, and surround yourself in their success. Feeling happiness and joy towards their wins, will allow you to attract more positivity towards your own situation, and you’ll gradually start to see the shifts.
3. Getting clear on your ‘yes’; What do you want more of in your life? This was another activity that pushed me to focus more on my ‘yeses”. It forced me to think and I mean really think about the things I wanted in my life. Now, this isn’t to focus solely on the things that you want, it’s more of a focus on the feelings and energy you want to bring into your life. When you start to write down how you want to feel on a consistent basis, you start to shift your behaviours to let more of these positive feelings in. This one is a quicker overall activity, but it was one that stuck with me, and I’ve actually gone back to, to remind myself of how I want to feel in my own life.
Manifestation isn’t for everyone, but the practice has really helped me to shift my perspectives. I don’t always receive what I’m manifesting right away, but I have been able to see a lot of my dreams become reality when I have been able to make a true shift in my overall being. If you’re finding yourself a little lost like I was, or just want another way to help hone in on your life, I would recommend a challenge similar to this one. There are plenty out there, the one I followed was from Gabrielle Bernstein, but if she doesn’t resonate with you, there are others that are just as good.
Article by: Michelle Levine | Personal Trainer & Group Fitness Instructor, Holistic Health & Wellness Coach
IG @michlwellness