Here’s a confession: I have a sick addiction to books that promise permanent, personal change in 30 Days. 30 Days to a Flatter Stomach, a Simpler Life, a Job Promotion? Bring it. 30 Days to Learn Hindi, Master the Stock Market, and Get Over the Dork You Used to Call Your Boyfriend? Better yet.

I don’t actually buy these books. I’m too embarrassed (because c’mon, really.) But I do stand in Barnes and Noble and skim them. Because I am that person who can do anything for 30 Days.

Examples: I was a vegan for 30 days. I meditated everyday for 30 days. I took a digital picture and posted it online for 30 days in a row. I quit coffee for 30 days, and sugar, and alcohol (but not in the same 30 days.) I became a ridiculously early riser for 30 whole days. I started a conversation with a stranger every day for 30 days (which wasn’t such a good idea.)

I posted an entry on my blog every day for 30 days. For 30 days I committed to reading an hour in a book that was not work or school related. I walked an hour a day for 30 days. I even stopped reading while I ate for 30 days.

The thing about doing these things for 30 Days and only 30 Days is that I am then free to go back to sleeping in, drinking coffee and eating while reading if I want to after the 30 days are up. I don’t have to change my whole life forever, and I like that. But during these weird little 30-Day money-back, no obligation, risk-free “trial periods” I can experiment with being a different kind of person—the kind of person who doesn’t eat meat, or drink coffee, or eat sugar, for instance. For 30 days I can be a little bit strange, a little bit odd, even a little bit “off” (as in the case during the no-coffee experiment).

And then, after the 30 days are up, I have 30 days worth of results to look at. I then know, with absolute certainty, how I operate when my life has more veggies, less sleep, more human interaction, or less stress. After the results are in, if I want to continue, I can re-up for another 30 days, risk-free. I found that being a vegan was too hard for me, for instance, but I did like how I felt with no meat in my diet. So, now I know.

By the time this issue of Mt. Home hits the stands, I will be into a 30 Day Yoga Challenge at my studio. I have challenged people to see if they can practice yoga for 30 days in a row, and I have made it financially enticing for them to do so (30 Days for $30). It will be interesting to see these people experimenting with being “a person who practices yoga everyday” if only for 30 days. I predict the first 2 weeks will be the hardest as people realize that yoga feels on the inside a lot different that it looks on the outside. But I’m one of those people who believe if you haven’t tried something for at least 30 days you simply don’t understand it.

I predict that the Challenge participants will start to become a little different, a little strange, even a tiny bit odd during their 30 days of practicing yoga, and that’s okay. They will at least know, with absolute certainty, what it feels like to be fully human and fully alive for a brief time. Then, if that becomes too much, they can revert back to their old ways. But at least they will be able to say that at one point in their lives they used to be a person who did yoga every day. They will have tried it for 30 days, so now they will know.

Kathleen Thompson is the owner of Main Street Yoga, 10 S. Main St., Mansfield, PA 16933. To contact her call 570-660-5873 or online www.yogamansfield.com or email mainstreetyoga@gmail.com