For some reason, I was consistently happier around the end of last October. That reason is Taylor Swift. 1989 had just come out, and I sung through it every morning, lyric book in hand.

It feels physically great to sing. Singing makes me more conscious of my posture, breathing, and core.

Singing teaches me about how repetition improves memory: after a few renditions of a song I can piece most of the lyrics together. This was comforting when I had to memorize my TEDx talk.

Most importantly, singing makes me feel happy and strong, awake and alive. So I made it my June Challenge to Sing Every Day.

Some things I’ve noticed:

• My voice is a muscle. The more I exercise it, the easier it is to transition into a tune.
• When I sing in the morning I wake up faster.
• When I sing a lot, I earn a little soundtrack of my favourite songs that play in my head all day.

My monthly challenges are simple and achievable, and I let go of them at the end of the month. My main incentive for holding myself accountable is feeling great. Because of this, the habit sticks with the more organic incentive of joy rather than because I have a task to complete as part of a personal challenge.

Sometimes I sing through my monthly playlists, hooked up to my little Kate Spade bluetooth speaker, or learn a new Disney song on my guitar.

P.S. I’ve been doing this monthly challenges for years…here’s a throwback :)