July Challenge: A Month for Meaning in the Margins

This July, we invite you to slow down and notice the beauty hiding in plain sight. Each weekly reflection is a chance to shift your focus away from noise and toward meaning. These small reframes of ordinary moments won’t cost anything but attention.

✨ Submit your photos, stories (200–500 words), and location to be considered for inclusion in a future book based on this content or to be featured on our website.

A simple picnic among friends.

Week 1: The Kindness You Almost Didn’t Offer

This week, pay attention to that moment when you almost didn’t say something kind or do something generous. This challenge is to notice it and follow through. What happened when you did? How did it feel?

Week 2: A Love Letter to Something Ordinary

Write a short note, poem, or caption to an everyday item or moment—your worn coffee mug, the way the light hits your hallway, the grocery clerk who always smiles. What makes it quietly beautiful to you?

Week 3: Your Soundtrack Moment

This week, pick a song that makes you feel more like you. Then go out for a walk or a drive, or do something simple while it plays. What does that song remind you of? How does it change your perspective?

Week 4: A Moment You’d Bottle If You Could

Reflect on a small moment this week that you’d save forever if you could—a conversation, a view, a smell, a laugh. What was it? Why would you keep it? How will you keep it?

🖋️ Your turn. Which challenge calls to you first?

Stories (200–500 words), submit yours using this form. Selected stories may appear on this site or in the upcoming book based on this content.