Lou_be_Lou

So, Sarakingdom pointed out that if I'm trying to decrease stress, then a camoflaged (ok, that is spelt wrong, but I cannae be bothered fixin' it) 10 point challenge isnae the way to go. I did say bad words when she pointed this out. Much as I hate to admit it she is right. So, revised challenge: turn up, do it, do it again. Build those habits. 1) Turn up (and turn up again tomorrow) - I just need to keep some momentum going here, having started moving again, I want to keep moving. Kinds of exercise that are included: kickboxing and jujitsu training, running, yoga, swimming, diy kickboxing training (including playing with my heavy bag). Definitely not all of these in one week - pick and mix from the list according to other commitments. Minimum spend = three chunks of exercise per week. Anything above that = bonus. Going all out and neglecting to have any rest days = nil poi! 2) Self care morning back exercises at least 4 x per week - they only take about 12 minutes and make such a difference to how I feel. GMB stress busting routine - I'm just starting to play with this, and so far I like it, 2 or more times a week, and see how it goes. Play that bass - to paraphrase Treva-sings, I feel far more human with this than without. 3) Nac Mac Feegle inspired: Eat the ship fud (aka veges) and drinkin (herb tea). All good.

Good luck with your work trip - hopefully you will get some down time. Right now it sounds like any down time is a win.

DOMS are your friends........

ye see, Not-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Tank-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Tank-Tank, some o us cannae quite remember us quite as many words as that in a one-er. An we dinnae ken ye cousin. Apologies, like, moderately big wee man, but ye cannae blame us for not knowing the remembering.

I like this lifting advice a lot. Makes me want to go to the gym. Fabulous!

Yay for 5 minutes of meditation and recognising that recovery is important! Welcome to the monastery.

Kishi speaks words of wisdom. Also: Absolutely!!!!!!! I wish we all had folk looking out for us and caring for us and stopping us from burning out. And yes while some folk are lucky enough to have someone standing by and saying "its time for a break", they are the lucky ones. So yes, look out for yourself and take good care because you matter. Sounds like you are in an incredibly tough place in your life. Self care will make a difference. All the tiny changes you can make will make a difference. And one day you'll have gotten through the system enough that you can walk away from some of the rubbish that gets thrown at you. For now, survival. Self care and survival. And suturing as a breathing exercise. Meantime, yay for music as self care - have you found anywhere to play? Asked while appreciating that you've probably had about 5 minutes in which you weren't working and were awake. I utterly agree re your comment: "I'm much more manageable as a human if I practice.". Just yes, yes, yes and yes. I get very obnoxious very quickly if I don't play. The other side of it (agreeing also with your " my instrument is my best friend to whom I can tell all my stories and secrets and not feel self centered about it.") is that in many way it is my voice. Through playing I say so many things which I will never manage to verbalise. Hang on in there. One act of self care at a time.

Yay. Welcome to the monks! But come on, cheating on the holds on your physio. You know better than that. I like the idea of working on kicks while you rehab your shoulder. Sounds like fun.

I'm still in shock seeing your kitten play with a comb! How does a feline not associate a comb with torture? Bizarre. Only possibly explanation is that it isn't actually a cat - its some computer scientist's automation pretending to be a cat. No other possible explanation. Good luck with the weather. Muffins, charged technology, luck, kitten. It'll be fine! Good luck all the same.

Ah no, so my plan to hide the complications of the challenge have completely failed! DUH! The good news is that I had a technique and bag session at home this morning - first diy kickboxing for a long time. I had forgotten (true story), just how much fun sessions like this are. I loved it. And I love my heavy bag. Must play more with the heavy bag (self sabotage avoidance, I'm going to buy bag gloves so I don't do my classic of using the heavy bag, then forgetting gloves for training, historically, this is a thing). Hmmmmmm, I'm spotting a theme, self sabotage may simply be absent mindedness...... I know about this, I did once manage to lose my car for 3 days, turned out I had walked past it multiple times each day...... Dearie dearie me. Generally if I can make things very routine, then I'm less likely to forget them. I'm also feeling good after doing evening and morning self care gentle exercises as well. Later today you'll be hearing back from me with the revised cunning plan. Hmmmmmmm. Still contemplating the improved quality of life thing, and I think decreasing my stress would be amazing. That one certainly needs a cunning plan. Some of it has started, stupid things, like hanging my dressing gown up on a coat hanger (vs drapped on end of bed) actually makes me less stressy every time i'm in the bed room. But yep, if little things like that are making a difference then i'm closer to a bad stress threshold than I'ld like. And I like exercise as a stress insulation/buster. Thats even before heavy bag plus creative visualisation....

Aye, sometimes its just the fightin', then the drinkin' and followed by the lyin' doon. Sometimes ye cannae do them all. How aboots ye keeps the habit goin' - get that drinkin' happenin' an go a wee bit i bit easy on the rest. Ye ken? Thats a mighty fine recruiting song your gonnagle made up!

Reporting in: while I remember..... So far: Bass played - both days. Morning back care = both days. Turning up = lunchtime walk monday, jujitsu today. Veges = loads both days Feegle = classic self sabotage on monday by leaving running gear at home ...... , just finished drinkin' 'erb tea. Good start. Now I just need to do it again. Off to do GMB anti-stress thingie before bed.

All righty - thinking time is over, underpants are collected, special sheep liniment is locked in the cupboard. I think I have quite a few goals this time. So much for keeping it simple stoopid. 1) Turn up (and turn up again tomorrow) - I just need to keep some momentum going here, having started moving again, I want to keep moving. Kinds of exercise that are included: kickboxing (sub challenge - at kb I'm aiming for flow and connection between the moves, while still keeping precision and crispness, this is making training way more fun) and jujitsu training, running, walking, yoga, swimming. Definitely not all of these in one week - pick and mix from the list according to other commitments. Minimum spend = three chunks of exercise. Anything above that = bonus. Going all out and neglecting to have any rest days = nil poi! 2) Body self care - these are less optional than turning up - morning back exercises at least 4 x per week - they only take about 12 minutes and make such a difference to how I feel. GMB stress busting routine - I'm just starting to play with this, and so far I like it, 2 or more times a week, and see how it goes. 3) NAC MAC FEEGLE!!!! Wee dangerous Lou Inspired by SaraKingdom "ye've already got the fightin' an' the stealin' o' information (which isnae as much fun as coos, I admit, but is aye useful), and are two-thirds o' the way tae a Nac Mac Feegle challenge. The lyin' isnae mandatory, but the drinkin' is. Ye canna be a Feegle without the drinkin'. We're famous for it." the fightin' = once a week, at home, diy kickboxing training, to include either a lot of kicking, or intervals on the heavy bag. the stealin' o' information = noticing moments of self sabotage....... trying to minimise them..... (classic one yesterday - was booked in with a lunchtime run with friends, nope, left my running kit in its bag, on my kitchen floor - DUH) the drinkin' = herbal tea in the evening, so I avoid the special sheep liniment (not completely, just saving it for two nights a week). 4) Play that bass - needs to happen most days (where most days = 5-6 days a week). Bonus points = contacting friends about playing music, being proactive about playing the music I most enjoy, rather than stressed by playing things other folk want me to. 5) the Anti-NAC-MAC-FEEGLE = eat loads of vegetables. Just eat them. Cook them, eat them, cover them with herbs and spices, and consume. 6) New underpants collection to start: Sarakingdom asked a hard question at the start of this challenge: What one action would make a big quality of life difference for you?" I haven't spotted it yet. But it made me think about what is irritating/sub-optimal right now. And most of it is that I'm stressed. Lots of nagging undone bits and pieces, but also big ones, like my current contract only running until late october, and getting it extended to there from the end of this month seems to have involved squeezing all of the residual oil out of a rag. There may be big changes coming...... Somehow in the next 7 months this needs to feel like an exciting opportunity for new adventures. So I just want to quietly contemplate stress reduction and see what I can do to help myself. Not adding any more pressure, but just skirting gently around the edges of some fairly scary possibilities. PHEW! For simplification - most of this is still: turn up, do it, do it again. Build those habits.

Oh yes, to turnin' up agin tomorroa Liking the hittin' an' the kickin', plannin' on doin' some o that. The mandatory drinkin' hmmmmmmm, me an the special sheep liniment, we're not best friends the mo. I'm a wee bit-i-bit a feared that the feegles will disprove...... but it means more special sheep liniment for them..... thinking of the herbal tea of an evening. Will help with only indulging in the sheep liniment twice a week. Absolutely! While avoiding the challenge turning into doing all of the things..... Ha ha, yes, this, absolutel* Yes, yes, yes and yes. But wow, this is challenging headology. I still want to do all of the things all of the time. But yes, when I try to, I certainly get burned. Crispy and well done on all sides and needing to have a wee spell of bed rest to recover. That is to be avoided if at all possible.

Oh no re lungs that don't want to play nice! Sounds like getting healthy again should be near the top of your list. A bit of self care? All the more energetic goals can just backburner for a bit until you can breathe. Good goals.

I'm gradually catching up with folk after being MIA for a while..... Wow another musician!!!! What do you play? Weirdly I've always found that if I stop playing (and like you, sometimes 10 minutes is all I can squeeze in) then my science stops working, and I'm stressy, and I'm grumpy, and generally horrid. So go find some way of playing, not in feel guilty if you don't do it kind of way, but in a feel more like yourself for doing it way. I have no idea how playing (double bass if you're wondering) puts my brain back together again, but it does. Possibly from the semi-meditative focused state that focussing on sound and phrasing generates? I also tend to do a lot of pattern practise, so again, there is a zoning in that goes on. YAY for suturing as a breathing exercise. Plus, YAY for a four day exercise cycle - it looks like a great plan.

Aye the grand doneegle himself did a most excellent portrait of the feegles! I'm just an incomer - apparently after a few generations I may be considered a local.......

Cheering you on for turning up when you're doing massive life juggling. Massive cheer also for fitting in walking to work - hopefully that gives you a moment when you can either think or zone out (depending on which works for you). Right now any exercise is a win, and walking is great, especially in stressful times. I like the batch cooking suggestion - if you can carve out that bit of time to make food for multiple meals then that can simplify things. Good luck with it all. Especially simplifying away as many non-essentials as possible.

Och aye lass, tis a grand day for the stealin, and the lyin doon and the drinkin.

Ha ha, I love the "next you turn up again tomorrow" option. Wow though, straight in with the big guns with your question..... Yep, that has flummoxed me... I'll get back to you with that one. Yes please to hitting things. Jujitsu has been all about other folks gradings this fortnight, so hitting things would be a good change from getting to be a crash test dummy. Again, needing to do some thinking here. My current rather vague (where vague never feels especially good) thinking is that I'm feeling much better as I slowly increase my fitness. So I want to keep slowly getting moving. I'm also being weird at the moment with achievemently goals, have been committing acts of self sabotage. Not healthy, also not very normal for me. Ah well. Turning up without massive expectations has worked so far this year. Means I get to enjoy moving, means I remember that I do enjoy moving, and avoids me stressing out. But some kind of hitting thing goal sounds like fun. I've missed doing bag work, I've missed doing kicking practise. Sounds like the start of a cunning plan to me........

I'm here! I've turned up! What next?

Good luck to Elf with their skin condition. Skin is so tricky - both internal and external contributors to irritation - my skin is much more stable (pre-gluten free I had about 5 months of constant urticaria, by constant I mean differing degrees of irritation but so rashy and so itchy and so off the planet on anti-allergy medication) now, but sometimes after eating a new thing, all of the itching - so yes I would certainly recommend playing with food. Planting the idea of an elimination diet in their head may be useful......... Wow re a snow pile that lasted for weeks. What a wonderful cave to play in. My tail end of challenge was fine - I did some exercise, I turned up when I could. With the exception of snow days, I ate much less rubbish food, and I've eaten loads of veges. I'm feeling a bit more energetic, and healthy. I'm also feeling stronger when lugging the double bass around. These are good things. Time to go and plan the next challenge. Nope, it'll be more of the same as I feel like I'm just starting to get back into exercise. For bonus points I managed a lunchtime run yesterday - YAY.

Sounds like you had an amazing time. Brilliant!

Oh yes, more snow than I've seen here since moving here 15 (maybe?) years ago..... To the extent that we've had bread/milk/chicken/oats/petrol shortages. All of the excitement. Though apparently stating "welcome to my world" in response to the first two shortages wasn't helpful. SNOW 5 DAYS!!!! I was super impressed by my neighbour's igloo - not joking, a heap of local schools set igloo construction as homework. Unfotunately it was child sized, so I didn't fit in it..... Lacked the motivation to make a larger one. But I now know that packing snow into a duploo box is a good strategy for making the bricks. Today we finally saw sunshine (we morphed straight from snow to rain) - feel much more human after that (the good jujitsu session also helped).

I'm now so pleased that most of my gigs don't have a skirt length specified. Love my short sequined frock, aiming to fit back into it soon....... Also have one floor length utterly forgiving nicely necklined long sleeved frock. Completely my favourite for sequin inappropriate gigs. Not really relevant to leggings - but YAY for an orchestral outfit link. plus - YAY for floor desk, and pickles and that amazing forward bend with arms folded above your head - I love that one - and yes somehow the weight of your arms tucked around your head, yep, deliciously elongating. Cheering on the turning up and doing the thing. Plus, politeness, wow, that is hard.