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!

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

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.

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 👀