WriterGuy

Hi! I can totally relate not finding support from your family. My grandparents believe gay people are mentally insane and belong in an asylum, so it sucks more or less, but what I have discovered is that once you find those people who accept you, everything is OK. Nerdfitness is one of the places, where you don't need to restrict yourself. What you said. Tenfold! Sound advice. The thing I have found hardest is actually doing the first steps. The first times everything is terrifying, but once you adopt this as an attitude and habit in your communication with people, it won't be as difficult. I'm still working on it. This last line has to be on a t-shit!

Oh guys, I have entered a huge, messy period in my life, which is about to end, so I have decided to come back. Has everyone been killing at the challenge?

Day Three: Another day, another goal met. The same two goals. Today was actually supposed to be my day for exercise, but I have rescheduled for Thursday (Wednesday-Thursday are interchangeable to me), because I had a really long and stressful day at work. Another 10 hour shift today and more talking and explaining. Goal 2: No bread. I have kept to main goal, but I needed sugar to cope with the stress, so I resorted to cherries at work and then some dark chocolate with nuts at home. There's nothing Russian chocolate can't fix. I cooked chicken stir-fry with tomatoes and pepper, which seemed to be very interesting in terms of taste. Rather liked it. Breakfast consisted of two carrots, which I'm surprised at. Really? That little. Goal 4: Managed around 20 minutes on "The Bones are Stones for Building", because my eyes are tired, but I love this whole process. However, I'm now sure that the signs have been right. I am in the beginning stages of a depressive period, which sucks, because I have so much to do right now and I refuse to feel inferior, a failure and waste of space. Keeping the battle day to day is usually what works, but I have this scary voice at all times whispering daggers in my heart, it's going to be real tough.

Done. Yes, that has kicking my butt. Seriously. I mean seriously kicking my butt. 10 hour shifts are the norm this week. I'm keeping track, so I'm happy to say once the weeks have passed, I will be able to tell how well I have crossed.

I would rather refrain from doing so, because really, the forum can be read from outside people and some publishing venues have a policy that if your work has appeared online in any form, it's considered published and therefore a re-print. Re-prints unfortunately are a tough sale. I'm welcome to sharing excerpts via personal messages, if you're interested.

Keeping this thread alive has proven to be a bit of a hassle as I'm already involved with the challenge and I have to say that things have been going rather well for me in terms of commitment. The drive to succeed in the challenge and this whole thing has been really positive in my resolve to say no to the nasty habits I've adopted for myself. Right now, it's been day two for the 6 Week Challenge and I'm on track with two of my four goals (those are daily). The Good: Been eating less and eating healthier. Boiled eggs for breakfast, yoghurt, tomatoes, feta, cooked meals at a small diner (not particularly the healthiest in terms of the recipes, but the preparation is akin to home cooking) and salads. Two days in my new position as a team leader, so I'm in charge of tasks and it turns out we're doing great. Way ahead of schedule on all my estimates and planning on some massive targets. The Bad: Headache. The mysterious variety... Am I dehydrated? Am I overstressed? Both? And yes, I have entered my period of depression. Honestly, I have been hoping for this not to happen during the summer, but it's been several months since my last episode and I guess I have no choice in the matter. Currently, I have this incessant fear I will fail at work and that everyone is smarter and better and more capable than me and I should just give up and not show my head outside. Worst feeling ever. I'm keeping myself busy to listen, but yes, this is something I have to deal with and stay productive. Tired. This whole being in charge thing means I get extra things to do that stretch my blissful 8 hour work experience into a 10 hour one, which makes me literally want to crawl under my bed and hibernate for at least half a week. The Weird: Everyone at the office was talking about The Red Wedding. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I can't quite believe this. Excerpt: Here is a little something from my work-in-progress "The Bones are Stones for Building".

Since I crashed yesterday after my first day at the new position as a team leader, I can say the following. Day One: I have made progress on two goals right. Exhausted is an understatement after a 9 hour shift with a really sore throat, having to instruct people. Goal 2: No bread, no sweets, no snacking. Goal 4: I started a new short story "The Bones are Stones for Building" and I wrote around 10 minutes before bed time. Day Two: Hello headache and a panic attack that I may be failing at the whole management thing at work. A really draining as I had to spend around 10 hours in the office. I'm properly pooped. Goal 2: No bread, no sweets, no snacking. I guess chewing gum and sweet coffee count as artificial, but I don't think I can ever say goodbye to those. Goal 4: 10 more minutes on "The Bones are Stones for Building". This is me right now. Tomorrow is the day for the training, where I will push myself to better results. Wish me luck.

I need to find your thread here and start posting like crazy. It's been a hell of a week to be honest. Real drained and it's only Tuesday. I don't know how to approach them really. The stat points are a mystery to me, though I will probably figure it out eventually. I need to start on my thesis as well, but I guess mine will involve a bit more of research as I have to start that as well.

Hello everyone. First challenge ever. I have been quite fortunate to join in the community around the time the last challenge was winding down, so I could get my head wrapped around the whole shebang. I have done my research and discussed my goals with the lovely I-Jo about what goals to pursue as a complete newbie, so here I am throwing my name in the hat and readying my pen to write myself a new and exciting path. Goal 1: Perform the Beginner's Body Workout twice a week. What I hope to achieve is reach all the necessary repetitions and master all the exercises. Right now, I'm not doing the classic push-up and my walking lunges are kicking my butt. I want to progress to building the strength in my limbs to do a regular push-up and conquer the walking lunges. As a bonus: I want to progress to perform the workout three times a week and add another circuit to the one I currently manage to do. This is something I want to work to and hope to achieve in the sixth week, though no pressure to get there. Goal 2: Diet-wise, I plan on saying goodbye to bread, which I have been steadily declining over the course of the last few weeks. I want nothing to do with bread and dough, so I plan on cutting them. I want to do a perfect three weeks (last three weeks) without bread accompanying my meals and I want to limit meals made from dough (pizza, pasta and a lot of Bulgarian meals) to twice a week. Instead I will opt for more veggies, veggies, veggies. Goal 3: Introduce yoga once a week in my life, doing the basic sun salutations. I want to go into being a druid once I lose weight and build some muscle, so this will be a great step for me. Goal 4: Spend at least 10 min each day writing. I'm a writer and I have a blog, fiction projects and a thesis to write, so basically I need to learn how to tackle things every single day. At least minutes will keep off from procrastination. That's me. Simple, but a good start. Let's trigger this change and become fabulous. On this note, I bring you this offering.

Boy, do we have the same problem. I can't for the world of me ask someone out in person and when I do, I usually hit on straight men. I second what others have said. Strike a small conversation that leads to the invitation. You either get a yes or a no, but nothing that warrants getting all nervous. While not interchangeable, I consider understanding and perspective to touch similar ground. Your perspective shows how you understand human interaction can be better through cooperation. Fighting with fire never works and it supposedly works, you end up with too much collateral damage, you could have avoided. But I guess aggression as shown through stigmatism and the elbow society behavior have established themselves as the primary means of human self-expression.

This is something most people need to learn. I'm very happy to see people like you with such an understanding of how things work in life and are very open about discussing it. Yet, most people I know take a look at a person and judge, judge, judge him or her based on that superficial criteria. This reminds of this pretty quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt - Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. I have really thought being bi is pretty darn awesome in terms of dating possibilities and experiences you can draw from them. However, I have come to understand that the word carries stigmata for both genders. Women get labelled as sluts and guys are gay in denial. So yeah, I can understand why you have chosen to stay away from an exact label. Your sword has been accepted.

How about we test it for 6 weeks according to the Challenge and then modify it once the first Challenge ends and we face each other next time, you know, battle scars and everything.

Honestly, I adore spreadsheets. Give me data and I can arrange by several criteria. I feel nice pinch at the mention of the word. I will. The people I'll work with, we have office past so to say and I'm in a more organizational role, make sure the tasks are streamlined as far as content creation goes. We work as equals when it comes to load and pitching in ideas about how to best work together. That's what I want to maintain. Nevertheless, thank you for the advice. It's one everyone given such a position should receive.

Yoga will be one of my main goals for the new challenge, so you have found the right place pushing yoga.

Bulgaria. We do have a gay scene, but I don't really fit in it. I'm just awkward most of the time and geek-ish and far removed from what I've seen so far, but then again I am painfully shy, so socializing is a problem.

I'm game. I can do this and we will certainly link to each other and comment on each other's posts (like a good community should do). I think this will be a FOREVER challenge. Which is fine. Suits the Internet.

Oh wow, this! I will most certainly try this, though I have to say I meant I have respiratory problems. Am right now in treatment, because they have been chronic for far too long. This will help for sure.