TheGreyJedi-Ranger

Any number of things, including quality of education, wanting to spend more time with Baby Jedi, and probably familiarity - he was homeschooled. I come from a family of public school teachers but I also know that the county we live in has a single elementary school I'd trust her at and that's it. The quality of educators is a crap shot, and there's a lot of "good ole boy" system involved in both who teaches and who the teachers like. There's also not really any decent private schools nearby that I care for either. Really my two primary reservations were 1) the backlash from my family (which is nonexistent so it doesn't matter) and 2) the idea of having to homeschool by myself.

Welcome! Thanks! I'm really excited about the narrative piece. ~ Forgot to link the article I'm using to build workouts, but it's this: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-42-best-bodyweight-exercises-the-ultimate-guide-for-working-out-anywhere/ And I'll also be doing extra 'step up' style movements because my ankle has been acting up a little bit recently. I haven't targeted the muscles there in literally six months and it's only now starting to get wobbly, so I just need to give it a little bit of extra love.

That's exactly how I feel. If she'd tell me how she felt or if something was bothering her, I could actually do something about it. But yeah, it'll be okay, it's just temporary until Mr. Right and I can get a mortgage and buy a house.

Hi hi! Can't wait to see how your challenge looks ❤️

This sounds like the grandmother I'm living with right now. Everything is an issue. My mom and aunt keep telling me It's not you, it's her. So I will pass that on to you ❤️

YES. SAME. I respawned at the beginning of Jan after being gone for like a year while having my first baby. It's been sooooo nice being back

It's super interesting to read all of the homeschool stuff. Mr.Right wants to homeschool baby Jedi but I was initially on the fence. I'm a bit less so now, but we'll see. She's only a little wee one rn, we have time

HIHIHIHI ❤️ Welcome back

New challenge new challenge https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/121001-jedi’s-hero-journey-pt-ii-habit-swapping/

My last challenge was semi-successful, but more in that I was able to adjust some of my habits and get settled than by raw numbers. Like I shared at the end of the challenge, my goal to move regularly and go for walks got pretty derailed. Everything else went beautifully. Ultimately, my long term goal is to swap in habits that will help me be more healthy overall. I can’t just make big sweeping changes and expect them to stick; they never do. Which really ought to be obvious. I want to try to do some storytelling for this challenge, create a character that I can use as an avatar to be trained. Hopefully that can help me with my motivation. The story will be spoilered below. So yeah. Since MHA is primarily based around high schoolers, the character is a lot younger than me. I’m going to treat it like my inner child so I can tap into my mom instincts. The vibe is this; for my avatar to succeed, I have to succeed. So I'm going to do my best to succeed so that my avatar can follow her dreams. My second choice gif since I couldn't find the problem child one And here are my goals: Drinking Water Drinking water is completely vital to breastfeeding successfully. I’ve been doing fairly well, but it’s a good goal to keep up with. Every day I’m going to fill up my large water bottle and drink all of it. As of right now, what else I drink doesn’t matter; I just have to empty the water bottle every day. Good: 25 Better: 30 Best: 35 I don't know why this gif felt right Working Out It’s time to get and keep moving. Movement is a great way to keep my mood up and I want to get stronger. I want to keep up with Maisie as she grows. For now, until I can afford a membership to the YMCA, I’m going to use this article to build a workout twice a week. Even if I don’t do it exactly, I’ll be doing as much as I can. Good: 8 Better: 10 Best: 12 Fruits & Veggies Now that I’m accustomed to cooking again, it’s time to improve the quality of my food. One area where I’m not really focusing and should be, is adding fruits and veggies into my diet. The goal will be to have one fruit or veggie with every meal. I’ll get bonus points if I have a fruit or veg for a snack as well. I’m not necessary trying to remove any other foods, just add in the fruits and veggies. Good: 70 Better: 93 Best: 105 Eat Mindfully If you follow me on Goodreads, you’ll know that I managed to read 16 books since January 1. Most of those I read while I was eating my meals, which means I’m eating a lot more than I need to be. Several of my gallbladder attacks were because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was eating. I want to eat one meal a day mindfully. Just one. No phone, no books, just me and my food. And possibly the people around me. Good: 25 Better: 35 Best: 37 So that’s that; some strong basics and swapped out/added habits for my February challenge and ultimate goal to become someone that I, my husband, and my daughter can be proud of. Plus Ultra!

I'm just glad you didn't think I came off too harsh 😅 I just looked back and it easily could have been interpreted that way

Certain medications are considered safer than others, but my dosage was increased while I was pregnant. (Not that we knew at the time...) It did absolutely nothing to my baby girl, and most doctors at this point won't pull you off of antidepressants/antianxiety unless the particular medication has very common and serious issues/repercussions during pregnancy. Especially with how severe your anxiety is. Anxiety like that is actually significantly more detrimental to your baby than the possible effects of most antidepressants. The one that's the "most safe" is Zoloft, but I was on the highest dose of Celexa that they'll give you and I had no issues (Lexapro is essentially the same chemical, just more refined and often more helpful). The thing you have to consider here is the word necessary. I know that most people(particularly those who grew up in a Christian church like us) are conditioned into thinking that our anxiety and depression are things we can completely control whether through prayer, diet, actions, whatever. Or, even worse, that they're some kind of proof of a lack of faith somehow. But that often trivializes something that's not trivial at all. When you're anxious, your body thinks it's in serious danger, so your body processes change; which could be detrimental to a pregnancy. Your anxiety is very severe and it's not trivial at all. I would say that considering the mental and physical changes pregnancy has on the body, antidepressants/anxieties are beyond necessary for you. Obviously it shouldn't be the first and only coping mechanism. But we also shouldn't be afraid to use it to help us cope either. You deserve to feel better. Period.

Thanks

Challenge recap! While technically I've got 2 hours left, I have done as much as I'm going to with this challenge. Some of the goals went great, and some.... less so. Here's the breakdown. Hydration - I did this every day with the exception of 3. I'm really proud of this, and this is a good goal to keep as an easy goal. Walking - This went off the rails so fast. I was trying to do it with my mom, but some stuff came up with my grandmother and it just didn't work out. And I was going to walk around the neighborhood I live in with my grandmother, but there are a lot of judgy, terrible people here. Not feeling that. So instead, I'm going to work out twice a week. Just twice for now, since I don't want to overdo it. I'm going to use the new bodyweight workout builder to create something that's a bit more unique each time I work out. Flexibility - I did this all but like 4 days or so? Pretty solid, but I'm also pretty flexible overall. I'm going to leave this one off because I'm pretty flexible at this point and I'll just focus on post workout stretching. Cook Regularly - This one was actually helpful - I'm now cooking 2-3 times a week depending on the week. Most importantly, I've replaced my fast food habit with that. My new food based goals are going to be eating fruits and veggies, and mindful eating. Refocus on Hobbies - This worked exactly like I wanted it to. I'm going to back off on hobby based goals for the moment, I don't really know where I want to focus right now; writing, reading, or makeup. These goals are going to be handled on the weekly level in my planner. Overall, the challenge felt pretty successful despite it being technically a 'fail.' My true goal is to find a life that makes me happy and fulfilled. And what I did and learned this month will do that! So here are my goals for my next challenge: - Fill my large water bottle and drink all of it - Work out twice a week using this method - Eat a fruit or veggie at every meal - Eat one meal mindfully every day So that's what I'm going to be working with. Now I'm going to sit down and do a little bit more studying before me and my poor cracked hands go get a shower and get to bed before church tomorrow morning.

This... isn't quite where I wanted to be, honestly. But I learned a lot and got into a few really good habits. I'll do a full challenge rewind and plan for next one in a bit - gotta take care of my crying baby Jedi

This week has been chaos. I was staying up late just for the sake of having some time to myself a couple of days in a row and then I had to readjust my sleep schedule. But I think i'm getting back on my feet now. I'm currently working and keeping an eye on Baby Jedi, who has discovered her hands and likes to play with them.

I'd have to provide tax info and my finances haven't been struggly enough for long enough unfortunately Thanks ❤️ I'm getting there slowly. I never thought I'd like the Hermione/Malfoys one, but it turned out to be amazing. I'm glad you're liking it too! I only like things close to the original story when it's a "add one new element" type of what if scenario. I'll have to check that out, thank you!

I didn't know that! Thank you! I'll definitely look into it

I've been in my feelings about my body and habits recently, but I need to remember that I'm actually doing really well. I'm a new parent and I'm slowly adding new habits and acclimating to things being completely different. I am slowly adding good habits back into my life, and I've achieved some of what I wanted to for this challenge. I also have to remember that my body is never going to look the way it did pre-baby. While that's not a bad thing, I need to allow myself space to grieve that. As far as fat loss, I've done more in the past few months than I have in ages (probably a combo of breastfeeding and drastically reducing how much fast food I'm eating from 1-2 meals almost every day back to once every couple of weeks or so). And really what I want is functional fitness so I'm going to focus on that. For the short term that means bodyweight strength training until I'm cleared by a doctor. Eventually, once my husband gets his work situation straight and we get our finances in better order, we're hoping to join the YMCA. Mr. Right wants to start lifting weights and I love powerlifting so I'd like to start doing that again. Baby Jedi is old enough for the kid's center in our Y so it works out. That's probably going to be a March sort of thing so in the meantime I'll probably do yoga a few times a week. Or see what else I can find bodyweight wise.

That makes sense! I've been in my feelings about my body and the way I look recently but I started trying to think like this instead of like I have to make a million changes at once. One thing to also keep in mind; if you end up pregnant, your goals and your energy levels will change a LOT. I was completely shook by how much I struggled. But most of your energy is going towards growing a human at that point. Priorities have to be reshuffled constantly!

I wish I could 😅 My grandmother has a very 'my way or the highway' mindset aand when she needs something done it needs doing now. And I have to take care of a decent number of chores that I wouldn't necessarily bother with this frequently in my own place right now. On top of that, she doesn't seem to completely grasp the 'working mom' vibe. When I'm working and Mr. Right is home she still asks me to take care of things with Baby Jedi

I think one of the biggest hurdles I've been dealing with as I figure my life out in this season is routine. I have a newborn. She's not on any kind of schedule at this point, and honestly you can't really schedule a kiddo this young. Not from what I've seen. Now I do have a vague idea of when she'll get hungry and when she'll sleep for the night and when she needs a nap, but it's not very solid. On top of that, I'm struggling to get a morning and evening routine together. Evening routine because I end up doing a decent bit of my work for the day after 7pm. Morning routine because I end up exhausted from going to bed late since I'm working late at night. Now to be fair, I'm working late at night because I currently live with my grandmother. She's... a handful. And I'm having to keep an eye on her as well as take care of my daughter. I do my best work when they're both sleeping. The concern I have is that I'll be working more starting next week based on my hours and that's honestly terrifying. I'm afraid I won't have the time to get things done that I want to.

Thank you!! It's hard when I'm looking at the numbers and it's not reflecting what I've learned, but I know I'm doing my best. And I need to stop treating my life like it is going to magically be exactly like it was before my baby was born. My priorities are different and that's as it should be.

Might I suggest a programmer's approach to the matter? Take your overarching goals and identify the habits that you'll need to incorporate into your life to achieve them. Then pick a couple of those to focus on for the next challenge! That's how I handle things. I want to improve my diet so I started by getting into the habit of cooking my own meals. Then I'm going to get into the habit of incorporating fruit and veg. Then I'm going to get into the habit of meal prepping my lunches, then breakfasts. Once those habits are in place, I can see how I'm feeling and see if I need to make any additional adjustments. Or for getting into better shape. I've been improving my flexibility recently, and once I can do so I'm going to get back into strength building. Then, once I'm done breastfeeding, I'll look into doing cardio. You get the picture Hopefully that helps!

Maybe try Amazon? Or online consignment shops? I think there's one called Thredup. Target has decent plus sized clothing right now as well. If you're just going for basics those might help