I Know You Know... Last night, I had a weird dream. I dreamt that a friend of mine was looking for a roommate and I was super excited. I signed up but she put me through a rigorous application process including investigation and interview. My aunt was leading the investigation and she was really strict and mean about it too! I was super mad and I decided to post about it on reddit. I know. What does this have to do with my challenge? Well, I thought the above thing was kinda weird. But really it’s a segue into how I came up with my challenge. In my dream, I went to my computer and instead of posting on reddit, I came up with my challenge. What I came up with in my dream is almost exactly what is below. That’s right, I literally dreamt up this challenge. It was a very detailed (and kind of boring) dream, but it made logical sense, so I went for it. For me, Psych is a great show for unwinding. It’s funny and I strongly identify with Shawn, the lead character. I decided to go ahead with my dreamt up challenge because, like Shawn, I have trouble with starting something and then seeing it through to the end. Shawn eventually found out that he had a knack for investigating and that he really loved his job. Because of this, he finally stuck with being a (fake) psychic detective. I’m hoping that by having fun with this, I could also stick with this challenge. So let’s go forward, shall we? Learn How to Bend "Pineapples are delicious." Shawn and his best friend Gus have something in common with me - they love food. They are obsessed with food. They love food so much that they will talk about food and eat food at the most inappropriate moments - like when they are standing in a murder scene. Lucky for them, they live in TV Land where they can eat and eat and always look good. Unlucky for me, I don’t live in TV land and the consequences of my obsession with food has many more consequences. But unbeknownst to Shawn and Gus - mostly because of the whole fourth wall thing - there is a pineapple in every episode. To me, the pineapple represents a healthy, yet delicious treat. So I will take the pineapple as my inspiration to eat better. Recently, I wrote a blog post (which won’t be published until I have proved it works) about eating right. I will follow the plan I set up on that post for proper eating. I will follow the paleo/primal spirit with food. That way I can eat what I love - like Shawn and Gus, but also eat healthy - unlike Shawn and Gus. "Dude, he's running!" Because they don’t have any experience with martial arts and because they don’t carry weapons and because they are in a line of work that pits them against people who want to kill them all the time, Shawn and Gus spend an awful lot of time running. Away. A lot. TV Land doesn’t work in their favor this time. Despite 8 years of running… ...and running... ...and dancing?... ...they haven’t really gotten into shape. In fact, except for dancing, they aren’t really good at any type of physical exercise. They were the worst students at the police academy. But not being in TV Land has it’s advantage for me. I get to exercise and I get to feel and see a difference. So, I’m going to take a page from the Psych book and I’m going to up my exercise. I signed up for a 5k and I will be doing some other fun things on the side - like dancing and martial arts. By the end of the challenge, I will be ready for a 5k and I will try to do a pull up. Hopefully if I come across any bad guys, I will have gained enough know-how to defend myself. Or at least run away better. "It's spontaneous psychic krav maga!" Shawn works as a consulting investigator for the police because they think he’s a psychic. But he’s not. He just fools them into thinking he’s one because he’s got keen observation skills. He has to keep up this facade for so long, he often forgets that he’s not a psychic. He basically tricked himself into thinking he’s a fantastic psychic. Shawn has this amazing self confidence and an amazing way of working with people that I sometimes lack. Though I don’t have a psychic ability and I don’t have a keen sense of observation, I do have the tools to mentally prep myself for whatever comes my way. I sometimes have trouble being very negative. I don’t mean to be that way, but it just comes out and sometimes that can spoil my fun. So, I’m taking after Shawn and I’m going to trick my friend and myself into thinking that I’m awesome. My goal is to stop yelling at my kids, stop complaining and to not give in to procrastination. I’ll chart these things in a journal so that I can keep some sort of tangible progress report on what is happening. Like Shawn, this will be my greatest challenge of all. "We get caught together, we face death together. It happens every week." The cast of Psych is known to sometimes break through the fourth wall. Several times, they mention how they do the same thing each week (and sometimes one around Christmas) and they learn nothing. My plan is to do something different each week and actually learn from it. Like Shawn, I have ADHD and that means I get bored easily. So I’m hoping each week to do something different. And this is where I psych you out in the end… You will help me with this. You are going to be my Chief Vic. The Chief is responsible for hiring Shawn and is the biggest source of his cases, and his income. She tells him where to go and what to do. He doesn’t always follow it exactly, but he always solves the case. So each week, I will be taking suggestions for fun physical activities and fun paleo/primal foods, I will pick the best ones each week and I will try to get them done. On top of that, I will try to do mini challenges. I will take suggestions from you for food/exercise and I will do the Assassins mini-challenges. In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity Here’s a quick recap: 1. I will eat pale/primal foods. 2. I will run, do a pull up and keep up with exercise. 3. I will gain a more positive attitude. 4. I will accept challenges from my Rebeller friends. I’m ready for this thing. Time to get into challenge position. Ready? Set? Go!
