The ProperFind your mountain.
Once a year, choose one big, difficult, wonderfully personal thing, and give it everything you’ve got. That’s a misogi.
What is a misogi?
- (traditional, Japan) An ancient purification practice: a pilgrimage to stand under an icy waterfall, or bathe in a cold river or the ocean, to wash away day-to-day stress, misfortune, and spiritual impurities.
- (today) A challenge so personal and difficult that it has the potential to define your year.
The modern misogi takes inspiration from that old idea of purification and of turning toward discomfort, but puts a very different spin on it: choose one big, difficult thing and give it everything you’ve got. And we mean difficult.
We live remarkably comfortable lives. We sleep in temperature-controlled houses. We can get almost any food we want whenever we want it. We don’t have to grow our own food, build our own houses, carry water, or labor with our hands for most of the things we need to survive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being comfortable. But sometimes, comfort can make us forget what we’re capable of.
That’s where a misogi comes in.
It might be something that has been sitting on your list of goals or New Year’s resolutions for years. Maybe it’s something you’ve always wanted to do but have been too scared to attempt. Maybe it’s something completely ridiculous that you’ve never even considered doing until now. The important thing is that it matters to you.
What makes a misogi different from a regular goal
It isn’t about being good at it
It’s about finding out what you’re capable of when things get hard. You’re not trying to win. You’re trying to find your edge, walk right up to it, and push a little past it.
It’s personal, difficult, and a little quirky
It doesn’t need to impress anyone else. In fact, one of the best things about a misogi is that it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you.
It isn’t for the applause
Don’t choose yours because it will make a good Instagram post. Choose it because you want to know if you can do it. Choose it because it scares you a little. Choose it because, when you finish, you want to look back and think: “I actually did that.”
Don’t choose a misogi to impress anyone. Choose one to make yourself proud.
(We do love it when you share yours, so we can cheer you on! The applause is the bonus, never the reason.)
A misogi is a mountain.
When I first heard about the Misogi Challenge in Michael Easter’s book The Comfort Crisis, I was intrigued. Then I watched the modern version being taken on year after year by Jesse Itzler, and it really inspired me. The idea felt like it fit beautifully with everything the Proper Mountain Woman Club stands for.
And Proper Mountain Women love conquering mountains. A misogi is an adventure. It asks us to exercise our courage and bravery muscles. It’s a goal. It’s a story. And most importantly, it’s a reminder that we are capable of more than we think we are.
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
Nelson MandelaThe ethos of the club is this: we have many hills and mountains to climb in life.
- Some are literal.
- Some are creative.
- Some are physical.
- Some are terrifying.
- Some are completely ridiculous.
But they’re ours to climb. So including a misogi in our club sessions, and making it part of the membership, makes perfect sense to us. And commemorating it with a yearly patch? That is very PMW.
How the club does a misogi
Each year we challenge our troop members to take on a misogi. Here’s how it runs through the club sessions.
Winter: come up with yours
We usually have a merit badge in the winter club session for coming up with your misogi. Sometimes that’s a challenge all by itself, so you earn a merit badge for it.
A merit badge for choosingDo it, then log it
Troop members who have paid their club dues for a club session can log that their yearly misogi is done, right in Members Only.
Logged in Members OnlyClub HQ dispatches your patch
Log it, and Club HQ will dispatch your Misogi patch, the club patch just for members. Patches are packed by hand and mailed at the end of the club session, so keep your mailing address current in My Info. The design is different every year and matches the theme of that year’s summer club session. Club HQ sends one Misogi patch per member per year.
A patch in the mailNew here? See how the club works or join the club. Questions about your misogi or your patch? Email Club HQ at hq@propermountainwoman.com.
A patch for every misogi
Paid your club dues? Log your yearly misogi and Club HQ dispatches the club patch, just for members. Haven’t? You can buy the commemorative patch.
The club’s Misogi patch
It’s a special bonus for proper mountain women in the club, and it can’t be bought on its own. A new design arrives every year to match that year’s summer session. In 2024 it was a mighty bison, an animal that runs straight into storms instead of avoiding them. In 2025, a banana slug, a quirky little creature that just keeps going. And in 2026, the patch was designed by artist Laura Leavitt and features a woman running straight into the unknown.
Paid your club dues? Log your finished misogi in Members Only.
The commemorative Misogi patch
Doing a misogi isn’t unique to the PMW Club. Lots of people take one on every year, and it’s becoming more and more popular. So if you haven’t paid your club dues, you can still commemorate yours: we made a special Misogi patch that anyone can buy, dues-paying member or not, to remember the year you dared to do something extraordinary.
Tap the photo to see its size and details.
Parcels currently ship within the United States. Shipping and handling is added at checkout.
Guidelines for choosing a misogi
Run your idea through these before you commit.
It MUST excite you.
Don’t pick something you dread just because you think it’s impressive. Your misogi should make you think, “Oh man. I really want to see if I can do that.”
It must push you outside your comfort zone.
If you already know you can do it, it’s probably a goal, not a misogi.
It must be hard.
The classic misogi guideline is that you should have roughly a 50/50 chance of succeeding. You should genuinely be unsure whether you’ll pull it off.
Don’t die.
This one seems obvious, but we’re putting it in writing anyway.
Make it quirky, creative, or uncommon.
Michael Easter points out in The Comfort Crisis that a strange challenge is harder to compare with someone else’s achievement. If you run a marathon, you’re immediately tempted to compare your time with everyone else’s. But if you invent your own wonderfully weird challenge, there is no leaderboard.
Make it specific.
Give yourself a clear finish line. “Get stronger” isn’t a misogi. “Climb this particular mountain” is.
Make it personal.
Your misogi doesn’t need to be difficult for everyone. It needs to be difficult for you.
Make it transformative.
When you’re finished, you should be able to look back and know that something changed. Maybe you proved something to yourself. Maybe you discovered a strength you didn’t know you had. Maybe you simply became the kind of woman who now knows she can do hard things.
A giant list of misogi ideas
Steal one, twist one, or let one spark something of your own. The best ones are the ones nobody else would think of.
Not sure where to start? Let the list choose one for you.
Miles, mountains & muscle , 15 ideas
- Climb a mountain (solo, if you’re feeling bold)
- Hike from mountain peak to mountain peak
- Complete a long-distance trail (multi-day thru-hike)
- Walk 250 miles
- Run further than you ever have in a single day (a first marathon counts)
- Bike a long distance
- Swim a long distance
- Learn to swim, if you’ve never learned
- Paddleboard a long distance
- Bear crawl a long distance
- Do 100 push-ups in one day
- Get in 300 tennis serves in one day
- Hold a plank for 10 minutes
- Do the monkey bars
- Train for and hit a major strength milestone
Thrills & new sports , 8 ideas
- Take a cold plunge
- Master slacklining
- Go cliff jumping
- Go skydiving
- Learn to rock climb
- Learn to surf
- Learn to snowboard and ride a hard slope
- Learn to ice skate
Wild & outdoorsy , 8 ideas
- Spend a solo night in the wilderness
- Build a fire with flint and steel, then cook a full meal on it
- Forage a full meal from the wild and cook it
- Sleep under the stars for 30 nights in a year
- Go on a long backpacking trip
- Plan and lead a backpacking expedition for a group of friends
- Ride 10 different trails
- Walk every major trail in your city
Grit & competition , 11 ideas
- Complete a 75 Hard challenge
- Complete a Whole30 challenge
- Take 30 different fitness classes
- Learn a new sport and join a team
- Train for and compete in a tournament, in a sport you’ve never tried
- Host a tournament
- Go on a hunting expedition
- Butcher and process an animal you hunted or raised, start to finish
- Shoot a target while riding a horse
- Compete in a sharp-shooting competition
- Participate in a 5K or 10K
Words , 7 ideas
- Write a book
- Write a book on a typewriter
- Write a screenplay
- Write 100 poems
- Write a story told entirely through dialogue
- Write a 50-page thesis on a question you’re genuinely curious about
- Write a cookbook
Art & design , 10 ideas
- Illustrate a 50-page comic
- Paint or draw in public
- Draw 100 buildings from observation
- Recreate a famous artwork
- Create a sculpture larger than yourself
- Bronze a small sculpture you made
- Create a large mural
- Design your own tarot card deck
- Design a board game
- Design a clothing collection and stage a show
Music, film & the stage , 14 ideas
- Compose an album
- Write a hit song
- Start a band and perform
- Learn an instrument you’ve never played and perform a song on it
- Learn to DJ and perform a live set
- Make a short film and screen it
- Make a documentary about someone you love
- Create an animated short
- Create an animated flipbook with 1,000 pages
- Stage a solo performance — monologue, comedy, or dance, your call
- Act in a stage production
- Prepare and perform a stand-up comedy set
- Learn magic and perform a show
- Learn a form of dance
Creative curveballs , 10 ideas
- Learn origami and make 1,000 pieces
- Learn film photography and darkroom printing
- Photograph every face in your neighborhood
- Create a physical photography book
- Put on an art show featuring your own art or photography
- Give away 100 original creations to strangers, no strings attached
- Learn a traditional printmaking technique and make a piece
- Compete in a professional gingerbread competition
- Create and make a window display
- Learn to yodel and perform it for an audience
Handmade, built & restored , 23 ideas
- Knit a sweater
- Learn to sew
- Piece together a quilt (bonus misogi: make it 50)
- Learn pottery
- Learn stained glass and make a window
- Learn silversmithing
- Build a clock
- Build a root cellar
- Build a website from scratch
- Make a canoe
- Make a leather saddle
- Tan a hide and make something from the leather
- Make a brick pizza oven
- Whittle and carve your own set of kitchen spoons
- Learn woodworking and build a piece of furniture using hand tools
- Restore something old
- Renovate a room completely by yourself
- Complete a landscaping project
- Build a miniature model of your neighborhood
- Make a portrait of everyone in your family
- Complete a 5,000-piece puzzle
- Learn 50 new hairstyles
- Learn to do a professional-level blowout
Learn it, master it , 14 ideas
- Master a discipline
- Get a certification
- Learn a language
- Learn ASL
- Memorize the countries and capitals of the world
- Learn how to debate, then enter one
- Learn how to do your own car maintenance
- Learn investing, then build and follow a plan
- Read all of one author’s works
- Read every book you own but never finished
- Read a long book in one day
- Complete a readathon to finish a full book series or volume of scripture
- Create something so ambitious it takes 3 new skills to finish
- Break a Guinness World Record
Letters, stories & looking inward , 15 ideas
- Write everyone meaningful in your life a letter (bonus misogi: make it 100 people)
- Write a letter to yourself at every age you’ve been
- Write your autobiography
- Write a collection of stories from your childhood
- Journal an entire notebook
- Write 1,000 things you’re grateful for in one day
- Write an analysis of your favorite book or movie
- Recreate a favorite childhood day in as much detail as you can
- Identify your biggest fear and take a real swing at conquering it
- Create a personal “deathbed list” of what you’d regret not doing, then act on one item
- Research your family history as far back as you can and turn it into a book or scrapbook
- Complete an entire family recipe book
- Record a loved one’s life story through interviews or writing
- Scan and preserve all of your family’s old photographs
- Create a meaningful time capsule and bury it somewhere hard to reach
Service & community , 12 ideas
- Organize and execute a service project
- Do 100 acts of service without telling anyone
- Secretly make one person’s life easier
- Organize a surprise celebration for someone who deserves it
- Organize a winter clothing drive
- Volunteer at 10 different organizations
- Teach a free class to your community
- Create a free online resource for your community
- Create a neighborhood festival
- Interview 100 people
- Reconnect with 10 people you’ve lost touch with
- Raise a meaningful amount of money for a charity you care about
Journeys & places , 11 ideas
- Take a trip with someone you never thought to invite
- Go to the temple a set number of days in a row
- Travel to a new country alone
- Move to a new city
- Visit 50 places you’ve never explored in your region
- Visit 50 museums
- Visit 10 cities using only public transportation
- Take a trip specifically to study something
- Learn your city’s history and host a tour of it
- Create an illustrated map of your hometown
- Make an extravagant scavenger hunt for others to follow
Quiet, stubborn & scary challenges , 8 ideas
- Go on a silent retreat
- Complete an alone challenge
- Spend a full week without electricity
- Spend 30 days waking up at the same time every day
- Organize and declutter every cabinet and drawer in your home in a week
- Cook every recipe in a single cookbook
- Speak in front of a large public audience
- Apply to 100 things that scare you
Gardens, bees & four-legged friends , 5 ideas
- Become a master gardener
- Plant an orchard
- Help restore a neglected garden
- Learn beekeeping and harvest your own honey
- Train a horse or dog to do 5 new tricks
Start something , 7 ideas
- Start a business
- Start a nonprofit organization
- Start an Etsy shop
- Start a podcast
- Start a Substack
- Start a monthly mailer club
- Earn and save a meaningful amount of money
And one more: Any Merit Badge in the Proper Mountain Woman Workbook that calls to you and fits the misogi guidelines.
So go find your mountain.
It might be an actual mountain.
It might be a brick wall.
It might be a bronze sculpture.
It might be something so wonderfully strange that nobody else understands why you chose it.
That’s okay. It’s yours.
Good luck, troop. We can’t wait to see what you take on.
Peace & Pine Trees,
Whitney Dodge