A tenth century BC Hebrew wise man known as Qoheleth once wrote, “Two are better than one for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But, woe to him who is alone when he falls, and has not another to lift him up. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” 

The first step in the Darkside Challenge is to recruit two additional travelers to make the journey alongside you. In reality, you will be traveling alone. The same is true for each of them. But, having two fellow travelers for the sake of endurance, encouragement, and accountability is vital. With three travelers you won’t be tempted to quit yourself. And, you will be available to keep your friends from falling too.

• Write down five possible fellow travelers, in order of preference. 
• Contact them and ask them to visit the Darkside Challenge about page and consider joining you in the challenge. 
• When you’ve found two fellow travelers, each of you will print out the Travel Log, and set your launch date. (The Travel Log is the link after Stage Seven)

Next, your Darkside Team will go public with your decision to accept the Darkside Challenge. You will announce to the world—at least those within your social networks—what you’re doing, and where you’ll periodically “be” for the next month. This may be the most difficult step. You will feel a cautious “pause,” and perhaps fear as you decide to post this update. That’s OK! Once you and your Darkside Team all do this, you’re on your way!

Pick 48 consecutive hours per week when you will not be posting, updating or reading anything on any social media sites. Discuss with your Darkside Team and decide if you want to synchronize journeys. In other words, will you be on the Darkside during the same hours or different hours of the four weeks?

• Post on your social media that you will be “dark” for 48 hours each week for one month. Provide specific details about days and times. Be creative here! Write about your choice like it’s something they should’ve already heard about. Create curiosity, maybe even personal interest. 
• Silence all notifications on your smartphone during these periods, so you aren’t lured back to the bright side when you’re supposed to be on the Darkside. 
• Anticipate resistance from friends…but more so from yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you discover personally during these 48 hour segments of the Darkside Challenge. 

An ancient Near Eastern sage admonished some of his own people, to “…seek the shalom (welfare) of the city where you are in, for in its shalom you will find your own.” Perhaps in modern language it might be: “Wherever you find yourself, be all there. It’s best for others. It’s best for you.” This isn’t technically complicated, but could turn out to be personally quite challenging….at first. Stay the course!

Put simply, you will turn your device to airplane mode or off completely when you are in the company of friends. This is eating out, hanging out, going out, and recreating. No silent mode. No vibration mode. Darkside mode only.

• You’ll keep a record of successes and failures on this part of the Darkside Challenge in your Travel Log entries for each day.

A Middle Eastern poet once said, “The purpose in a man’s mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” A recent author lamented, “We’re becoming a society of self-promoting monologuers, rather than curious dialoguers.” People need to have their thoughts and feelings drawn out. There’s no app for that. It takes effort. Curiosity is diminishing even as our ability to be connected is increasing.

For this part of the Darkside Challenge you will ask at least one person each day, 2-3 sequential, open-ended questions…about them. Questions that cannot be answered with one or two words. In other words, questions that invite conversation, about their life. (E.g. “How are you?” or “What do you think about…?”)

• You’ll keep a record of this via check boxes on your Travel Log for each day.  If you want, there’s space to jot a short note to remind yourself of the person,  and the outcomes of the conversation, if any. 

One of the lasting legacies of Moses’ trip down the mountain was the reminder that one day out of seven was supposed to be very different from the others. The Sabbath became the most visible difference between the Jews and the surrounding cultures. 

In a day when it is presumed we will always be available or “on”, perhaps being “off” from devices that chirp, vibrate, ding, and ring might be a very good thing. For this part of the Darkside Challenge, you’ll take a cell phone sabbath from 8am to 8pm one day a week for four weeks. You choose the day. Your Darkside Team can decide whether or not to synchronize your sabbaths. You may even elect to take your sabbath on one of the same days you’re on the Darkside for social media. 

• You’ll indicate on your Travel Log when your cell phone sabbath will occur each week, and keep a record of your diligence in keeping the sabbath.

Handwriting is being systematically removed from school curricula and replaced by texting and keyboarding. It will likely die the same death as other ancient alphabets like Hebrew and Sanskrit. 

But until it does, we still have the opportunity to reach out and touch someone tangibly. We can utilize handwriting, a medium that is permanent and not subject to data loss or crashes. For this stage of the Darkside Challenge you will send a handwritten note or letter to one person each week. That’s four for the entire month—doable by anyone’s standard. Feel free to print if your handwriting is difficult to read. 

Your notes or letters can be mailed, hand-delivered, or even left anonymously. The point is that you wrote them and someone else physically received them. They all can be to the same person, although you might want to consider spreading the joy by sending one to a different person each week. 

• You’ll record on your Travel Log who received your cursive or printed creations, and the date they were delivered or posted.

After you successfully complete your Darkside Challenge, you are encouraged to send a report indicating that you completed the challenge. Feel free to provide any discoveries you made about yourself, friendship, time management, the virtue or curiosity, the value of people, the brevity of life, the pull of the self, the bondage of your technology or any other thoughts you have. The email address for the report is in your Travel Log.