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.

4 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

for places to stop - try Moes! I actually would stop there when I was doing keto, they've got decent stuff quality wise. For snacks, maybe popcorn? Like the smartpop or something? or veggie straws? Or Sunchips? applesauce pouches? Individual packets of snacks like goldfish?

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!

4 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

 

And with stretching, I actually built my own routine that I do basically daily. I do a forward fold/toe touching stretch, then I do a downward dog to open up my shoulders and back. Then I do a seated butterfly stretch (feet pressed together and lean over to open up the hips) , then the leg stretch where you're seated with your legs out in a V shape and you reach for each foot one at a time. I put my opposite hand over my head to get some stretching in my side and lower back. It's about 5 minutes or so and it's basically full body  

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??).

1 minute ago, Maggie-Miau said:

 

*hugs* thank you, Dusk. Better now, yes ♥️

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.

On 5/8/2021 at 6:07 AM, Chesire said:

Following!  Don't have much to add to the amazing points made so far.

 

But, geez, the idea of eating simply to eat for a healthy goal, long-term, not weight loss sounds almost restful(?)  I don't even know if that's the word I want!

 

Good luck with all the things

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.  

1 minute ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

I loved one of my astronomy classes the other one had a bummer professor haha

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. 💜

8 minutes ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

I mostly enjoyed it, but it burned me out on art for quite a while so I don't know if I'd do it again. My other option for minoring was astronomy. I probably would do that if I could redo it.

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

I love how the flowers are looking!! Though yeah that does look like murder on the hands 😅  

Ooo art classes 👀  I took only one art class in undergrad, it was 2D art of some kind... it was great. I wish I could have taken more, but I had limited electives to choose from.

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies!! 💜

19 hours ago, aquadwayne said:

As far as this is concerned, I'm not sure what you're falling into that trap with. Diet? Exercise? Both? Other things?

19 hours ago, ninjakitten said:

I guess it does depend on the reason. I sometimes get this myself because I can get quite anxious about being late to my appointments etc. So for me just making a good plan with specific times and allowing for a bit extra helps. (So I'd probably try it out on a day without too much going on, check how long it exactly takes me and go from there.) Otherwise it sometimes just might take me a few times of being uncomfortable and doing it anyway, just to get over it. Eventually it does get easier. But to get a good idea you probably need to figure out why you feel like you cannot do anything before your appointments are done.

4 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

Also with the office stuff - maybe it would work to have it all planned out together? I like to go out once and do everything all at the same time. So I don't go home between appointments and such. Like if you have a doctor's appointment then you go before or after your appointment?

3 hours ago, aquadwayne said:

Definitely. I think addressing the cause rather than the symptoms is going to be the best way to fix it.

Yeah, figuring out why this happens is definitely important. It's been a struggle for a while and I have talked with my therapist about it several times. It may be a combo of anxiety, as ninjakitten said, plus not feeling competent/"good enough", plus executive dysfunction, plus the unconscious feeling that if I don't have time to do All of the Task, then I can't do it. Which is bologna of course! And when I'm able to catch myself when it's happening, I'm able to tell myself "ah, no, Dusk, you can use even five minutes toward the task, and it's still five minutes of work you haven't put in before." I'm gonna think of ways to remind myself of this.

19 hours ago, aquadwayne said:

I don't remember where I read it, but it said if you don't feel like going to the gym put your clothes on or hop in the car and get on the road. If you get on the road and still don't make it to the gym then maybe there's something going on, but most of the time if you just start heading in that direction you'll find your way there. I've also read other things such as "if it takes less than 5 minutes, just do it." There's no point in putting it off if it only takes 5 minutes because you'll be done with it and then it's off your plate. Another thing I've heard is that if you can "be brave for 20 seconds, it can change your life". While this doesn't apply directly here, the same principle could be applied. Rather than being brave, replace it with "healthy". If I can make the healthy choice for the next 20 seconds, it could change my life. Do this enough times and it will have real impact.

 

Just remember, a cathedral is built with lots of small bricks just like your epic story is built on lots of little choices. Don't worry about what's coming or what you've done earlier. Just focus on making the right choice in this moment and go from there. Much less overwhelming that way because you don't feel like you have to make up for what's already done, but you also don't have to shoulder the weight of planning for the unknown. Trust yourself. Make good choices even if they're boring or not as easy as being lazy. You can do it!

I love this! Lots of great reminders in here, thank you  

17 hours ago, Maggie-Miau said:

*waves pompoms* following! How is the sleep coming, if i may ask?

Hi Miau! 🥰

Mm, it's going ok! Haven't been getting to bed as early as I wanted, but there were extraneous circumstances, so I don't fault myself for that. The medication my doctor gave me is helping a bit with the racing thoughts as I'm trying to fall asleep, at least!

1 hour ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

That's such a healthy mindset that pretty much everyone should benefit from.  There's no punishment or denying philosophy there, just health.  Food is fuel and can be fun, you needn't just eating plain salads to reduce calories to the absurd like we do sometimes 🤣 that was a good reminder at the end of Week Zero!

Indeed! Reducing calories to the absurd is definitely not healthy and definitely something I find myself far too inclined to do sometimes. I'm excited to nurture this healthier way of viewing... well, health!  (how many times can I say "health" in one post?? lmao)

Hello, I am here to follow!  Like many have already said, I like your sleep goal, I think that's a good way to think about it. Good luck on thesis work!

I'm glad you get some more time to rest!! I hope you get some energy back 💜

That's a cute tattoo idea! Cool song too~

Zero week update!

I met with the nutritionist earlier today, and she sent me some pamphlets: several generic meal-ideas type charts; one packet on cholesterol, detailing what foods to avoid and what you can substitute them with; as well as one on mindful eating, along the same lines of the book Intuitive Eating. So, over the next couple weeks I'm going to read through those and start coming up with a plan; and we're going to have a follow-up meeting where I can ask questions and maybe refine some of my ideas.

I'm excited (and also quite nervous) to try eating healthier without my weight as the goal/sole focus. In previous tries at healthier eating, I have inadvertently honed in on my weight, which led me to some... mmm unhealthy behaviors, we shall say. I don't want to go down that road again, so I'll be putting special emphasis on the mindful eating ideas, as well as specific non-weight health outcomes (lower cholesterol, less fat around my waist so that bending over is easier, etc.). I'm also in a much healthier headspace now than when the aforementioned unhealthy behaviors occurred, so hopefully that will help.

I haven't gone in to my campus office at all this week... ripperoni. I've had several doctors appointments and other meetings, and I quite easily fall into the trap of "there's something scheduled later today so I can't do anything until then". Not sure how to overcome that one 😅  anyone have any tips?

12 hours ago, Alanna said:

 

More data analysis for my project - mostly time series analysis of brain activity. I've done some modelling (in the "building a simplified biophysical model" sense) in the past, though! There are some free online Computational Neuroscience courses - I think Coursera has one from the University of Washington - if you want to learn more about comp neuro some day  

 

Particle physics sounds really interesting, too! I like research (at least the computational stuff - wet lab wasn't my cup of tea), but don't want to stay in academia long-term. Do you know what you'd like to do after you graduate?

Oh ok, cool! My research group is doing pretty much 100% data analysis right now, and I am... not cut out for it lol. I will definitely look into that course someday though, that sounds super interesting! The closest I've gotten to learning about neuroscience was in undergrad when I took a class on biopsychology... that was probably one of my favorite classes I've ever taken!

I'm gonna take a short break after I graduate, and then just look for something around town to pay the bills for the short term. Long term... I dunno, it'll depend how much I like or dislike the less... intellectual?... jobs. Right now, keeping my intellectual energy to myself sounds real nice.

49 minutes ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

Thanks! 

 

For me, I'm a different person that I was when I had these other hobbies. And I want  to find out what I like as a person now - is it the same or are those things different? 

 

This series is what has gotten me through several incidents of the ol Depresso. The first book is like a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Ah, that makes sense! I guess now that you explain it that way, I'm exploring that a little too.  I'm quite a different person now, myself.

Ooo interesting! I've never heard of that before, that's quite a tale! Now I'm even more interested in the series you mentioned.

Hi Jedi! I like your goals  

I've been trying to do more hobbies too! For me it's less finding new hobbies, and more rediscovering hobbies I used to love before I got the good 'ol Depresso. I've been reading books lately which is amazing! It's been so long since I've been able to just sit down and read a book. So, I think I will also make a note of this series to check out once I'm done with the series I'm in the middle of  👀