Dusk

Aaaaaaaaaaa hi frens! Sorry for dropping off the map again again again... lol. The week before my vacation (challenge week 2 i think?) was crazy, trying to get lots done before we left; week 3 was the vacation itself; now (I think) it is week 4, and I had wanted to pick up where I left off. HOWEVER. Of course something has to go wrong right?? Turns out, the 8-hour drive back home somehow fricked up my ankle, so walking hurts. I think it's just strained from being in the same position all day (even though I used cruise control 😭 ), or pooooossibly bruised from my shoes? I was wearing high-tops. Regardless... UGH. So I'm taking it easy this week. May try some gentle yoga at some point, idk. Edited to add: we had fairly healthy snacks for the drive, yay Also, for lunches, we stopped on the way there at Subway (there was nothing else for miles and miles and we had no cell service so we did what we could xD) and on the way back we went to Qdoba.

I looked it up, and there isn’t a Moe’s anywhere near our route 😂 but its similar to Chipotle right? As Aquadwayne alluded. Maybe we can look out for Chipotle or Qdoba. I started brainstorming snacks and I’ve got apples, raisins, and rice cakes so far. Might get some veggie chips too! Ooo, thank you!!

HI! I forgot to reply all week, eek! Last week, I: - crafted a list of like 20 new recipes to try, which seem healthy in the right ways; and even tried out a couple of them! - walked to campus 3 times mostly-as-planned (though one of them was just to get ice cream, not to work on my project I did work on it from home on a different day, though!) - went to bed around 9pm on the nights it mattered. (If we had nowhere to be the following day, we stayed up later. Sometimes that bites us in the butt, but we do it anyway xD) So, that's all my week one goals met!! YAY For week 2 my plans are: - Walk to campus at least 3 times like last week. - Find a stretching routine. I have needed to do this for a while - my legs, and particularly my hips, are so stiff lol. I don't have to start it yet necessarily, I just need to at the very least find one that is simple and that I feel I can keep up with. - In bed by 9pm like last week. - Brainstorm some good, healthy road-trip snacks and places to stop for food. We're driving out to visit our parents & some friends next week, and we always eat fast food and lots of snacks on our road trips (why does driving long distances make you so hungry?? Is it boredom or something??).

I’m glad 💜

Ooo, cool skills! Snazzy yet practical outfits! Superhero identities! Sounds fun following!

Greetings! It's technically the first day of challenge Week 1! (Even though in my head, weeks begin on Mondays lol) Goals for the week: 1. Think of more dinner ideas. As I'm trying to come up with my cholesterol-friendly meal plan, I'm realizing that I'm terrible at meal planning 😂 Breakfast and lunch are pretty good already, and I've got some healthier snacks for this week, but dinner is ???. I've started a spreadsheet where I can keep track of key nutritional info for various meals I commonly make, and I've got a few that are actually surprisingly okay, cholesterol/saturated fat/etc.-wise. But I need a little more variety, particularly options that are easy to prepare/have on demand on nights I don't feel like cooking. Edited to add: I also want to read through my mindful eating handout this week. 2. Walk to campus on Monday, Tuesday, and either Thursday or Friday. That last day depends on a few factors; one of my friends wants to hang out and/or go shopping this week, but she's not sure when she'll be free. Also, Thursday is husband's day off, so I wanna a) spend time with him and b) run some errands together. 3. Same "in bed by 9pm at the very latest" goal as in my original post. I need to remember to take my medication at around 7pm, and also thinking I should start winding down conversations with my online peoples at that time so I can wind myself down for sleep.

Hello! Truly!! I know what you mean, it's a hard feeling to describe... unpressured?? Thank you!

My word, that sounds awful I hope you're feeling better now *huuug*

Very Dadly indeed!! And delicious-sounding food, as ever! I should go make lunch now... reading this made me realize how hungry I am! (I know, I know, never come here hungry &c. 😂 )

What a lovely location for a hike!

I'm so sorry to hear about your rats sending many hugs. Take care of yourself in the coming days. 💜 And good job on meeting your goals during zero week!

I love this thread! I don't love that so many of us are experiencing burnout right now though. Hopefully we can all help each other along With guidance from my therapist, I've had to do a lot of trial and error and adjusting how much I expect of myself. Because, unfortunately, I don't have that much brain power lately; so I have to be strategic about how I use it. That has shaped up lately to "only plan one major task per day". This works for several reasons: - If it's a low energy day, I can still usually do just one thing; - If I only have one thing on my to-do list, it's much less overwhelming to my subconscious; - If I get done with the one thing and still have energy left, I often end up doing other tasks anyway. Double dopamine: getting things done AND it feels like a bonus because it wasn't on my list Also: I try to alternate days between "school tasks" and "home tasks", so I get a longer mental/emotional break between each thing. This may not work for everybody; admittedly it only works for me right now because my only "job", other than house chores, is writing my master's report, so I have a lot of flexibility with my schedule. This will look far different once I'm graduated and in the regular workforce. But I thought I'd throw it out there anyway; maybe it will spark an idea for someone, or they can adjust it to fit their own life better.

Lame professors are the worst 😅 I’ve gotten lucky for the most part with professors over the years, but the bad ones I have had.... were really bad. 😬

🥰 aaaaa I’m so happy for you! I’m glad things are going well, and that you have that sense of peace... that’s so wonderful. 💜

Ahh, yeah... makes sense. Astronomy would be cool!