Sleepless

Well today was that day; I ended up getting called in four hours earlier for my shift because one of our people got hurt... I didn't mind the going in early, but it kind of threw me off, so I didn't manage to make it to the pool; or eat breakfast. I only got down some apple juice on my lunch at work, but did manage to eat a pretty good dinner of deer sausage, squash and plums. Hoping that tomorrow I can either get to the pool or on my bike before work starts.

Here's a kind of funny little one that works as either an immediate grounding technique or as a meditative technique, it helps me at least: Get a lemon or lime (I like limes because they taste better) cut it up and refrigerate it. When you need to get grounded fast bite it... it's gross, but it brings you back, as biting something cold and sour does. I also learned that this is good for more mindfulness based meditation, again take the fruit, but instead of biting a chunk out of it; examine it, closely so see all the colours of the rind, look at the pulp and white, smell it, lick it whatever it takes, just put all of your focus on that little wedge of citrus fruit. Yes you look kind of nuts communing with a lime wedge but it actually really seems to help with directing focus.

*Just a heads up, I am dealing with a mental illness, so I might end up talking a bit about stuff that's a little uncomfortable and just thought I should put a little warning* I know I'm a little late, but i really want to do this because I know I need to get healthy physically and mentally. I was on here before but sort of fell by the wayside after stuff got really bad. A little background: I'm fairly physically fit, I work as a cleaner in a bakery and it's fairly labor intensive with lots of heavy lifting and running around. That said, I did a lot less when I wasn't doing so hot and am now trying to get my exercise level back up, I also need to look after my body, as i did drop a fair bit of weight in a shirt time. Mentally, I'm not doing so well; I was recently diagnosed with Borderline Personalty Disorder and am also dealing with some comorbid depression and still sort of just feeling everything out with it; I know a fair bit about it due to my background as a psychology major and from interacting with professionals, however I am still a little weirded out by it. Main Quest: Taming the Black Dog I understand that the BPD is going to be a part of me and my life; and while I know I need to make some changes to accommodate it, I'm not going to let this thing control my life. This is my overarching goal, because it is going to take a lot more than just one challenge to do; so i have a bunch of smaller things to get me started. Mini Quest 1: Mind over matter *to me right now the most important thing for me is to start looking after my mind; to do this, I need to: -keep up with medications -stay on top of clinician's appointments -keep up with support groups and do all homework -learn all I can about BPD -practice mindful meditation, it really seems to be helping me and I want to get more into it Mini Quest 2: Get fighting fit: *while my job gives me lots of exercise, I want to get back into exercising for fun as well as a way to burn off extra stress outside of work -walk for 30 minutes a day -bike for 1 hour 3x a week -swim at least once a week Mini Quest 3: Find allies: *I am not too good with people and so I need to learn how to be social and possibly try to meet new people: -start going back to gaming group once a week (i stopped when I hit my bad patch) even if it's just to watch the insanity and chill -agree to see people 1x a week (I can isolate myself for days and days and not see anyone so just agreeing to hang out with people just once a week is a step) -make new friends, this one is a little iffy since I'm not hot with people and don't know how to define this Mini Quest 4: Eat up: *this is pretty self explanatory: -eat 3x a day, it doesn't matter if it's just an apple or some yogurt; just get into the habit of eating 3x a day (some days i go without eating and just want to build a habit of actually eating) -move into a paleo/whole foods diet: eat paleo 2x a day (a lot of research seems to show that diets low in processed foods can help to alleviate some of the symptoms of BPD and depression) So this is more or less my plan so far; I'd love any advice on how to work on my plans. If anyone is living with a mental illness and would like to give advice or just share stories I'd be happy to hear. I'm also a bit of a dork and into table top gaming, horror of almost any kind, science fiction and learning about meditation, so if you want to talk to me about that stuff feel free to.

So, I joined a few months ago, but then ended up sort of falling by the wayside due to more personal problems; these few months have been really rough on me, but I really want to try to get healthy or at least start looking after myself again. I think this is a good community, and I'd like to come back and be a part of it again.

#1 -Meditated for about 20 minutes this morning -I've been working straight for the past 5 days so no social interaction, but I'm hoping to see a friend tomorrow #2 -Got to the pool for a 1 hour swim today, 45 minutes of endurance and 15 of sprints -Walked for close to two hours #3 -Haven't eaten so well today Breakfast: black tea Lunch: deer sausage Dinner: cheese, apples with peanut butter -Woke up at noon today thanks to a bad night; hoping to get to bed by 11.30 #4 Had a day off work so I filled out a number of job applications, printed up more resumes and looked into driving schools (since it seems that all jobs I want need you to have a license and a car)

Ok, so I derped and posted this in the wrong place... For this challenge I just want to get myself on track, which will hopefully help me get going on my fitness. Goals: #1: Mental (this is my main focus for this challenge) -Work on improving mental health; this includes keeping up with doctor's visits, going to support group once it starts and find alternatives to unhealthy mental practices. -Work on mindful meditation; try to meditate for fifteen minutes a day. -Try to be more social; make an effort to hang out with friends at least once a week and try to move out of my comfort zone by actually talking to people and trying to make new friends. #2: Physical -Swim at least 4 times a week. -Walk at least 30 minutes a day. #3: Body -Eat healthier, eat more fruits and vegetables and work on cutting out processed foods. -Find a sleep schedule that works for me and stick with it. #4: Future (This one might take multiple challenges) -Find a job or volunteer opportunity that relates to my bachelor's degree. -Continue to look into master's degrees or upgrade programs.

Psychology, looking for any kind of support, care home, rehab etc... jobs, pretty much anything that will give me experience as that's what the majority of upgrade programs and master's programs need, because my marks aren't quite there.

Ok, here it goes, my first challenge; I'd love a little feed back on what I'm doing. For this challenge I just want to get myself on track, which will hopefully help me get going on my fitness. Goals: #1: Mental (this is my main focus for this challenge) -Work on improving mental health; this includes keeping up with doctor's visits, going to support group once it starts and find alternatives to unhealthy mental practices. -Work on mindful meditation; try to meditate for fifteen minutes a day. -Try to be more social; make an effort to hang out with friends at least once a week and try to move out of my comfort zone by actually talking to people and trying to make new friends. #2: Physical -Swim at least 4 times a week. -Walk at least 30 minutes a day. #3: Body -Eat healthier, eat more fruits and vegetables and work on cutting out processed foods. -Find a sleep schedule that works for me and stick with it. #4: Future (This one might take multiple challenges) -Find a job or volunteer opportunity that relates to my bachelor's degree. -Continue to look into master's degrees or upgrade programs.

I did a class on Wednesday, I wasn't a huge fan of it. I enjoyed the movements since they were something I hadn't really done before and actually really enjoyed the stretching feelings, even though I'm not flexible. However I'm not comfortable around people and the fact that there were quite a few people there sort of freaked me out, since I didn't know anyone and I was just very stressed about being around them. I'm hoping that once I'm feeling a little better around people I can go back and try it again. I'll probably see if I can find some resources online and see if I can just practice at home for the time being; and then try a class again when I'm doing better.

I got the bendy fingers too and my big toes do that to an extent too... though I got bitten by a radioactive chicken when I was little kid.

There's a reason I go by Sleepless, I have really bad insomnia, so I get 5 hours a night if I'm lucky. I've been a bad sleeper my whole life and come from a family of insomniacs and while I know it's not exactly healthy, I can function like this; and, well, when I was going to university it made life easier since I could stay up really late working on papers or studying and still survive the next day.

Since I started working out, I've noticed that I've lost weight and I've also lost a few inches from around my bust, down from 37 to 34 inches. I don't mind the shrinkage as I've never really liked my boobs, but it's a little weird since it's getting to the point where I'm a little nervous about having my bras become too big for the girls... if there's anyone here who is about the same size who's had this happen, how much did you lose and how long did it take for your boobs to stop shrinking?

Most kinds of melons are pretty good in water, I like putting honey dew in my water. Lime slices and mint leaves are good too.

Copper Pendant of the Tree Exactly as the name implies it's a piece of enameled copped with a tree on it. +10 to confidence +10 to charisma -2 to tan (permanent white spot where the pendant sits)

If you don't care too much about looks, men's basketball or soccer shorts can work. That's usually what I wear, they do look a little sloppy but they're comfortable.

Hmmm, wow, I see myself 20% bigger than I really am I'm actually a little disappointed, I always thought I had a pretty good idea of what my size is. Though all my girlfriends and most of my female family members are tiny little things so that might be why I'm a little skewed.

I work in a bakery as a cleaner, when I'm working I make a bunch of zombie survival plans, I only excuse is that I'm exposed to cleaning fumes and ovens all day. The focus of my plans are how would I react if zombies invaded my workplace, I like thinking about all the implements in the bakery and how they could be used, as well as how I would react to different types of zombies such as Romero type zombies as opposed to 48 hours zombies. My favorite plan so far involves pan cleaner to lubricate the floor, a mop to push, and an industrial oven to incinerate the zombie and hopefully burn away whatever is infecting them.

The site was really helpful, and will definitely be using it in the future... best of all, less sprints whoot

My favorite is: If I don't laugh I'll cry. I love it because part of me always wanted to be a comedian, and because of that I tend to joke about very personal things, such as being mentally ill, as a way of dealing with them. The quote just sort of reminds me to not take myself too seriously and that i can still smile through stuff.

Anyone here read 68? I've read some really good things about the comic and what it does for the zombie genre and I've flipped through one of them in a bookstore and like the style, but I haven't seen the first issue; is it worth investing some time and money on this series?

Thanks for the advice so far guys; there's a group that I'm going to check out next Monday, they sound pretty low key so I'm just going to go and see what happens.

The psychologist that I'm seeing recommended that I try qigong, as it helps with a lot of mindfulness exercises and it can also work as a way to calm down and relax and can help a person become more centered. I've read up on it and it looks like it might be a help; but I'd also like to know if anyone here has tried it before and what did you think of it? Was it helpful for reducing stress and did you enjoy it?

I tend to shave my legs and bikini line and trim a little, but that's mainly because my hair is very thick, grows very fast and just generally bugs me when it gets super long; plus my legs are sensitive and letting my leg hair grow itches like crazy. As for my guys, I agree with Mad Hatter; body hair is fine but if it's long enough to braid then there's going to be problems

I'm not much for sprinting myself actually, but I couldn't find a swimming work out that I liked though and so just went with what I remembered from lifeguarding and that was all about the sprints because, I can swim for a long time but I'm slow as hell. How do you structure your swims if you don't mind me asking?

So, the next six week challenge starts up on the 26th right? looks like fun.