Everstorm

Sea snail offering!

Yes, the "foot" looks like a tongue.  In fairness to myself, it looks like a tongue in the reference photo too lol

Well done fitting in all that exercise.  No wonder you didn't have time to read 

You can doooo it!

How are things in Stardew Valley?

What a fabulous vacation!

On 4/19/2024 at 5:22 AM, Silmarilliane said:

The assistance band I got for the chin ups is also useful for doing some sort of standing shoulder flies (basically pulling the band directly upwards with both hands to shoulder height, with elbows out/up - feel free to let me know the real name

Sounds like an upright row if elbows are bent and out:

Cheering for you to meet your goals this week!

Enjoy Cancun!

So cool to meet an expert in the sport!

Fingers crossed you can keep a job with your company until you are ready to leave.  

1 hour ago, Silmarilliane said:

 

If you're ill I'd say restricting foods isn't going to get you better any quicker. Plus the same for swimming, maybe something lighter and less chlorinated?!

Well, I was supposed to be limiting sugar and eating veggies twice a day, neither of which are really contraindicated for illness.  It's mostly that I have had a depressive episode (which started before the illness) and haven't had the bandwidth to do unpleasant things.  I seem to be heading out of it now, which is nice.

I am feeling enough recovered from the cold to consider swimming tomorrow.  I'll make the call at that time. 

I made soup last night and ate the leftovers this morning, so that's veggies starting to get back on track.  No sugar at breakfast, but I make no promises about the rest of the day.  I think the goal was unrealistic yo start with and I am just not up to pursuing it right now. 

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

 

Mental health goals are as important as physical health goals, and I'd definitely say creativity falls into that category. Look forward to having another person with an art goal next challenge

 

Seconding all of this

44 minutes ago, Sea-to-sky said:

@Everstorm chances are someone will sell unusual mints round where you are. Even if its mail order. I do have to hunt for mine but theyr usually around as people are very keen on them. Even big garden centres can carry them

I might have to look into that!

On 4/17/2024 at 6:47 AM, Sea-to-sky said:

Repotted my new mints (chocolate peppermint and pineapple mint). 

*wants*

How do you use them?  In drinks or something?

On 4/18/2024 at 9:24 AM, Sea-to-sky said:

been wanting to read a discovery of witches for a while

Good series!  I really liked it.

Oh no, that must be so stressful!  Do you have any other job leads still open?

On 4/17/2024 at 1:12 PM, kcaleece said:

The Happiness Trap book sounds really interesting too. It's not one I'm familiar with, but it sounds like it could be talking about some issues my cousins and I have run into (basically getting constantly distracted by thinking there must be an option out there that will make us "happier" than we are now, to the point where it's tough to just pick something and commit to it even when it turns out to be imperfect because, duh, that's how real life works). Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on 

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the full copy next month!  In the meantime, I found out that the author has an app with exercises that correspond to the ideas in the book and I have been working through those.  It's quite eye-opening to see how much of my behavior works against my values and how it all stems from backlash over the failure to find happiness 24/7.

On 4/18/2024 at 3:01 AM, Mad Hatter said:

I think it's pretty much mandatory in Sweden where I grew up. 

It was part of school when I lived in Texas, but not in my current state 🤷‍♀️

I'm not dead.  Annoying sore throat has turned into annoying throat cough, but I still don't feel all that bad physically.  

GMB Elements 6/7 done today.  Just need 1 more in week 5!

Skipped the swim for week 4 because stoopid infectious disease protocols.   Can't be helped.  Maybe possibly could do 2 in week 5 to still hit 7, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Diet goals...what diet goals?  Do not recall having such a thing... 👀

Have a great time in France!

2 hours ago, Heidi said:

had not heard of ACT, but I can tell you I never once changed a bad habit or took on a good one by fighting or pushing through. I found that I had to make friends with my demons and dark thoughts, welcome them in and set a feast for my sorrows. So far this has been the only thing that worked/works for me, because I found that it was okay to have them along on the journey as long as I was the one choosing the direction. Are we crying the sauna? Well, yes, but we're in the sauna. Are we ranting our fool head off like a crazy person while we're walking the greenway? You know it, and also, we are walking the greenway. Do we want to throw the freeweights we're lifting, and do we have a list of preferred targets? Almost certainly, and look, we're lifting. 🤷‍♂️

This is exactly what ACT is: making room for the feeling to exist (because it already does exist) while also recognizing that it isn't the only thing that exists.  Our bodies and the world exist around it. We are not being swallowed whole by it.  We can continue to move our bodies and be in the world around it.

4 minutes ago, Sovalis said:

It turned out to be a blessing that Houseguest went into the city with Dave to do the passport stuff because Dave had filled out the wrong paperwork for the passport and needed a guarantor for the correct paperwork and they could do that for him. So hooray for that. The new passport will be ready tomorrow afternoon and Dave will drop off Houseguest when he goes into the city and I will have my house and husband back for a few days before he leaves. Whew.

Yay!  So happy you have a happy resolution to this situation, even if it was a bit long in coming.

18 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I'm sorry you're getting sick, but yay recorded swims and prizes!!

Thank you!  It was really nice to look back and see how far I have come with swimming in quite a shirt time.  BuJo ftw

12 hours ago, athousandwords said:

Ugh, feel better! 🤗  That's awesome about the swimming medals though! I love stuff like that - it's so motivating!

If it follows the pattern my boys experienced, I expect the sore throat to last one more day, and then it's just a week or so of sniffles.  As illnesses go, I'll take it.  My throat doesn't even seem as sore as they were complaining of.

I definitely like having a motivating training goal.  It helps me be consistent when I'm not feeling it.

5 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

It is very cool they offer medals. 50miles is no small distance

I'm not sure what the prize is actually, but it's fun to commemorate big milestones, anyway, so even if it's just a bumper sticker or something, it will mark the achievement,  which is cool.

3 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Ah the medal gives me flashbacks to swimming in school! We used to get badges for completing different milestones. I could already swim so they weren't too exciting for me but it was a fun thing.

 

Feel better soon!

Oh, cool that your school offered swimming (and prizes).  The ones around here don't, so we had to pay for our boys to have lessons.

1 minute ago, Sea-to-sky said:

43 give or take some human error

That was my count, too.  You beat me to it lol

3 hours ago, kcaleece said:

lunch yesterday was...is it bad I don't remember,

Mom Brain™️ hard at work.  I won't tell you how many times this week I asked my husband "what did I eat for lunch yesterday?" so I could record it and he knew when I didn't.  🙈

6 minutes ago, Harriet said:

 

Do the vegetables negate the sugar? Could be a good system.

Not according to the scale 😭

Also, I am coming down with the cold my boys caught last week.  Boo.  It doesn't seem to be a particularly nasty strain, but being sick is never fun.  And public safety protocols probably call for me to abstain from swimming this week.  Double boo.

On a more positive note: I have known for some time that my gym offers unspecified prizes for reaching certain mile markers in swimming.  I didn't bother to register at first because my swim distances were so small that the lowest level prize for 50 miles would have taken me years to earn.  However, my swim distance (and frequency) has increased so much that I decided to go ahead and register.  Here is where my BuJo practice paid off in spades.  I have my swim distances written down for the year thus far, so I can record 8ish miles already!

4 minutes ago, Sovalis said:

Twelve days left in this challenge including today and I am feeling completely derailed. I had such high hopes for momentum on this challenge and it has not played out that way. I am trying to be okay with it. This is a long haul project, it can’t speed along all the time. Today’s card was the Ace of Fire and said “you already possess the power you need but may not recognize it in yourself” and I feel called out. One thing this challenge has made very clear is that I “only” seem to make progress when my world is predictable - there is not a lot of plasticity or robustness built in for variation. I think I need to figure out how to bomb-proof some of these habits and routines so I don’t get so derailed when things aren’t going to plan. Long-term horizon, there are some potential big shifts that might be coming (Latvia, I am looking at you) and I don’t want to lose the thread if they come to pass. I am not sure how to go about bomb-proofing, because I think it largely comes down to executive function and will power, two things I am not the best with. Food for thought, anyway. 

This is me in a nutshell right now.  There has been a ton of promising research into Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for bulletproofing your brain, and I have been checking it out.  The basic idea is that avoiding or fighting negative emotions often leads to destructive behaviors (eating to soothe, procrastination, alcohol/drug addiction, etc), so building a mindset that allows space for negative emotions to exist without overwhelming  while you still soldier on towards your goals is something to practice.  Might be something worth looking into.

Got a lot done today!

That's so interesting that the scent changes over time or even smells different on different people.  I know my sister always loves my perfume on me (always asks what I am wearing) but then she remembers she didn't care for it on herself when I gave her a sample bottle 🤷‍♀️

Yay for super fun soccer game!

So lucky the dress came clean.  I couldn't even tell you how many sets of clothes I lost to diaper blow-outs.  Once, I even had to throw out my own shirt.  *shudders*

I hear you on avoidance brain lately, and spring weather is a tempting distraction.  Can you make a plan to fit some outside time with your other goals?  Handstands in the park?