Silverwitch

Hi there! Found ya… and I am very happy to see you're still here! Since I do not feel ready for another challenge ( I had a very bad February) , I'll hang around if I may, offering my support. :) A battle log seems easier to maintain than challenges, which are bound to sort of get scattered after a while.

New challenge, not so new goals... But hey, constant dripping wears away the stone. Last challenge I was somewhat impaired because a nasty virus sent me adrift between bed and sofa, leaving occasional clear days for work and bare necessities. But I do not wish to complain. Selfcare was big, and it helped. I managed to set myself straight again with Paleo, which helped a lot, too. Mindfulness is difficult when your brain feels like a chloroformed cottonball, but then … here's to the February challenge! By the way, it is a leap year, and February has 29 days. 29 beautiful days to make the best out of. So, what will I do? Basically, resume where I left off. #1 Keep it Paleo, maybe a bit more low carb, since I found out that I feel better getting my energy NOT from carbs. #2 Yoga. Doing it on a regular basis has the power of giving me back some flexibility, it brings actually peace to my mind and I enjoy it. #3 Life balance. Work has still a way too big say in my life. There are other important things, too, which are necessary to make a person feel complete and happy and sane. #4 Working on mindfulness, every day with everything I do. Perseverance will make it happen, I hope. #5 Take decluttering to a new level. My desk works best for me with minimalistic equipment. Free myself of the unnecessary. Oh, and be more regular in poking my head in fellow nerds' threads! I am back. (imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) Life is worth living. This is not just a phrase.

In general, I feel good about the challenge because for once I've set myself manageable goals instead of overwhelming myself with too much ambition. The last two weeks I had a nasty cold, but managed to at least do part of it (mainly because it involved selfcare, which is easier when you only hang around between bed and sofa…). I have to say I love the 4-week format! February will definitely be my next challenge. Wait a second - that is today! Yikes!!!

Just resurfacing in time for the end of the challenge. *sigh* I had a nasty cold, and on top a difficult time at work. It seems all sorted out right now. Selfcare was great, though, because there was no other way to get over this especially mean virus. I still have achy joints and muscles. At least my head is clear, and that weird "chloroformed" feeling has gone away. Yoga got worse, I could really see how I got stiffer in the course of that cold. Things that worked one day didn't work the next day anymore. But- I stayed Paleo *yay* and I sure was into whatever I was doing every day… mainly hanging on the sofa doing NOTHING. So I will go over to the new thread, and see what I can put up as next challenge. Maybe one gets interrupted by such things as colds -- but it cannot stop me forever!

Found out what the herb is called in English: Pink rockrose or Cretan rockrose (botanical name Cistus incanus). Your tea concoction sounds great! I never thought of using elderflowers in tea, usually I make some kind of syrup from them in springtime, which can be put into mineral water and makes a refreshing drink. For a common cold, I use the pure (and kind of bitter) juice of elderberries heated, maybe with a tea spoon full of acacia honey (otherwise I can't ge the kids to drink it). Even if you don't meet your walking target, try to get out at least sometimes to catch some fresh air.

Might as well include that weekend. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but for me it feels kinda odd to just stop in the middle of the week…

Week two is almost over as well => time sure is flying! I agree that mindfulness is not easy. Getting sidetracked is much easier, unfortunately. But I will keep working on it! Decluttering just became a more intense focus: we want to make it possible for our girls to not have to share their room anymore. Each girl needs her own space, and a chance to sometimes shut the door. Which means that husband moves out of his office into mine. We both are decluttering, because my room is very small. But we can share my fairly big shelf, and there is room for a second desk. Still, I need to free part of the shelf for him, he needs to get his stuff decluttered and packed so that he can move from first floor in here (ground floor), then we need to get the girls' stuff decluttered and sorted, and part of my stuff has to go in the basement, which will need more shelves and some rearranging of cabinets and closets that are down there (and also need some decluttering), some walls could use new paint... I might make this move within our house the priority of the next challenge. It would give me a nice time frame to get it done. Everything else is going okay. Weather is cold and wet, work is as usual, and somehow it seems that this year is on track now. No special ups or downs so far.

Urgh, cold again? Poor thing. Good defense: hot ginger tea. And tea from a herb we call "Cystus" … I'll try to find out what this is in English.

Recognizing what is going on is the first step to real change and improvement. And yes, a good night sleep is very helpful to get a clear head for making decisions! "Bottom of the totem pole" --- first thing that springs to my mind: wow he can take a lot, carrying all the others on top! Would they be able to do the same thing in your place? Hmmm, doubtful in probably more than one case. So work your way up the pole, but don't just sit up there. Use your wings.

Looks a lot like you're doing good! I'll stick around, lurking uhm, watching how it is going! By the way: nice avatar!

Just take one step after another! I think you are doing great. Your challenge list could easily be the one from my husband, if he were on NF … Thesis -- hey, once you've got your degree believe me that soon nobody will ask anymore WHEN you did. Important is: YOU DID GET IT! Keep going, I see a lot of good and promising stuff going on here!

Get well soon! I hope you feel at least a little bit better already...

True. There simply is no "one fits all" solution. To recognize this helped me to get over the disappointment when I unsuccessfully tried to copy the success of others by doing what they were doing. The hard but satisfying part is to find out what is good for oneself, and then sticking with it. No matter whether sports related, or related to other aspects of life.

I just love my alarm clock! Much nicer to wake up with this instead of nerve-wrecking beeping noises. It had a considerable influence on my modd in general, and on the way I feel about starting a new day - even a work day. We can learn from each other no matter what our goals are. Glad to see you here! Week one in over, and I made happily the transition back to my good old low carb Paleo living. Have to admit small carb withdrawal attacks, but this is gone now fortunately. I follow the two week low carb challenge on dietdoctor.com. Works nicely, and the recipes are ace! Yoga is a steady part of my evenings, and I am very happ about that. Interesting: I planned on doing it at least twice per week, and now that the pressure of doing it daily is gone, I do it daily. Weird psychology… What I struggle with is the mindful part. Being totally in what I am doing. I catch myself sometimes still thinking about something else instead of what I am doing at the moment. So this will need some more work. Self care works out nicely, I noticed that I get grumpy if someone tries interfere with my very personal time! Good, because this means that I finally value self care a little more than before! Decluttering meant last week to get all the Christmas stuff back into boxes. But I also sorted through everything, repaired a few items, and labelled the boxes properly so next Christmas will be easier because I will find all the stuff much faster. So far, I have only good feelings about this challenge! I'll have to catch up a lot with all the other threads! Will happily do so today.

No idea about the new character system yet, either. But I don't do the stat stuff, and I am totally fine with it. There are other ways to see whether something worked out well or whether it did not. Writing my challenge thread keeps me accountable, and keeping a personal journal helps, too. I like your goals, and I keep my fingers crossed for you that the wine delivery won't interfere with Drynuary. Introducing rainbow-hued biofuel sounds as delicious as it sounds fun - though I have to say that it would be for me very challenging to make it to five servings per day… especially fruit. I love veggies, but fruit only in small doses.

Looks like you've figured it out! Nice choice of colours!

It might go nicely with some of the good veggies you now have in the house, I bet!

You just reminded me of this: You've got to accentuate the positive eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative But don't mess with mister inbetween I find that a positive attitude can make a huge difference how one feels about oneself and our surroundings. Which does not mean that one should simply stop working on oneself. But being less ready to "condemn" myself for whatever circumstance I don't manage to change at the moment. The moment one lets go usually something positive happens. Reminded me also of the time many years ago when I wanted to have kids but couldn't get pregnant. I was told that I couldn't have babies. So for a while I was very sad, then arranged myself with it. And … got pregnant twice.

Jakkals, thank you for posting this! I've printed it out and put it above my desk, and it will also go above the desk at my work. This is so great! Change of attitude is what I need, too, and this reminds one beautifully how important the right attitude is. To word things differently isn't even that hard, but it has such a positive impact on how one is received and how one makes others feel about being with us.

Awesome mask! You have put a lot of work in this, and it turned out verrrrry well! Shooting for eight hours sleep is a good idea, after a while you will figure out anyway how much sleep you need. Which might be a tadbit more, or also a bit less. But first you need to give yourself a chance to figure it out, and this is the hardest thing to do if one is used to not really making sleep a priority. Actually, sleep counts also as self care and preserver of creativity, because the brain sorts itself during sleep. Think of it as a computer: defragmenting happens at night, so powering up for the day runs somewhat smoother! I am also having no more than two cups (okay, mugs…) of coffee per day, and found out that I feel better that way. Coffee belongs to breakfast for me, but in the beginning it was hard to reduce because I was sort of a "heavy user" with up to eight big cups during my work day. Moving away from my desk usually meant a hike to the coffee machine. After a while, I noticed that my concentration was getting better. Which I find interesting, because I feared the opposite. I am curious what your experiences will be!

Speculoos, I didn't know that … cool, I just learned something; thank you! Still, they won't be part of my diet for a long time now (until Christmas 2016 lol). I need to go back to low carb, because it makes me feel so much better physically. More energy, less sluggish and no brain fog. Last night I did some yoga, which felt awfully good, especially in the lower back area, and I went to bed early. My alarm clock is one that imitates a sunrise, with birds chirping (and gradually getting louder, if I don't react), and I absolutely enjoy waking up this way instead of being kicked out of bed by some shrill noises produced by regular alarm clocks. Breakfast today: Bacon, scrambled eggs, red bellpepper, cucumber and bulletproof coffee with coconut milk, cinnamon and some coconut oil. Pretty much like yesterday, but so far I like it. It'll change as soon as I feel the urge to add some variety. Light therapy lamp was going for 30 minutes, and I feel awake now, ready to face the day.

Yup, it is almost black (very dark brown) and it tastes a bit like molasses without being too sweet. I live in the area of Germany where pumpernickel comes from; maybe it is sort of an acquired taste. Brick-shaped it is, and usually pre-cut into thin easily breakable slices, too. One of my favorite ways of eating it is with fried brie, fried parsley and some lingonberry sauce. Makes me hungry thinking of it. For X-Mas, one can put butter on it (nice and thick) and on top a German type of spice cookie (Spekulatius, no idea what you might call this in English!). Tastes delicious with a cup of hot black coffee. Had a bit too much of this, waaay too much carb for my system, but so good…

Health. Physical and mental health. Inner and outer order. Change of attitude. There are no chores, only tasks. It is up to me what I make of them, and how I go about them. Giving myself a chance to be happy.

Hats off to you for making truth part of your challenge. I find it sometimes very tough to let others in on what I actually think. Not because of a problem with truth, but because of worry what people might think of it. I'll be sticking around, but not only for the reason of seeing great knives!

Looks like you still have a lot do do before you relocate, but today's list shows that you are right on it. Have a great and successful challenge!