thegoodkindofchaos

Week 2: Sleep 0/7 - Having different schedules from my husband is making this very challenging. I'm trying to stick with his schedule and get up at *sigh* 5:30am but I also often work until 9pm so it doesn't always happen. I tried ear plugs which are good for during night but I still wake up after 6 hours. So I'm not sure where to go from here but I'll keep trying things until something works. Breakfast 3/7 - I did so well at the beginning of the week! And then not so much. I got a new smoothie mix so that should be motivating for this week... It's also been cold in the mornings in our basement suite which makes me avoid smoothies and my eggs keep exploding in the water which pisses me off enough to forego breakfast altogether... Yoga 6/7! - Yoga has been mainly on track! I do at least 10 minutes but twice I did 20-30 minutes on my less busy days. I've been very moody and feel like I have no purpose in life right now as I continue to work in my retail job after 4 years of nursing school... Which may be affecting my success in the other areas of the challenge. BUT yoga helps me focus on the good things and relieve the stress buildup in my body in between study sessions. Breaking away from needing to use instructional videos helps as well; now if I feel like I don't have time I just do the poses that feel good and hold them longer and end up with a really good stretch AND 10 minutes of yoga at least fit into my day. NCLEX 5/7 - Really picking up on the amount of time spent per day as my test is in a WEEK. Total Week 2 Score: 50%. Damn sleep.

Ok for the extra credit-figure things out week: yoga 4/4 breakfast 3/3 sleep ?? Not sure, totally forgot to track. Nclex questions 4/4 Week 1: Sleep 4/7 breakfast 6/7 yoga 5/7 NCLEX 6/7 Week 1 score: 75% Also, I finally got my authorization to test email from Pearson Vue so my NCLEX is scheduled for two weeks from now! Boss battle: pass the NCLEX!

This challenge is about working WITH my body and accepting where I am at. I need to find balance in my life and since my life is always go-go-go, that means slowing down a smidge and prioritizing things that soothe and nourish. My stressors right now are passing the NCLEX and finding a job as an RN (finally!!) which are pretty draining objectives. I am trying something different this challenge by starting April 18th as I think the extra week is good for getting into the swing of things. During the extra week, there are no penalties if a day is missed. Every success during this week is a bonus for the 4 week challenge and the idea is to have a routine in place by the time the first 'real' week of challenge begins. Nourish Have a smoothie every day, preferably within the first 1-2 hours of getting up. My smoothie formula is frozen fruit + ground flax seed + protein powder + water. Soothe Get at least 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Goal is 7 but sometimes I seem to need a couple extra hours depending on pain levels (IBS, shoulder pain, and random cramping from getting an IUD) Do 10 minutes of yoga/meditation every day. Ideally 10 minutes of yoga and a couple minutes of meditation, but if I am drained and just meditate for the 10 minutes I'm ok with that. Boss Battle: Pass the NCLEX!! 15 practice questions every day (with rationales) Complete minimum 3 chapters in Saunders Comprehensive Review every week Edit: after my extra credit week, I have removed the Saunders review and decided that any HEALTHY breakfast gives me credit. It's either been a smoothie or egg so it counts.

Love your theme! The Princess Bride is way underrated! Stay mostly dead and worry about being less dead when things settle a bit! Good luck with all your assignments and the fam! You've got this!

Sounds like you have a great plan for building on your last challenge! Congratulations on not dying from the 10k! Love it! I love that you take a week away off the grid! I'm going to need to implement that in my life I think. I've been working through generalized anxiety and can see that being amazing for me. Looking forward to hearing more about your challenge!

Thanks! Today is my last day of clinical. I can't believe it! Though I'm having a bit of an identity crisis because I'm no longer a nursing student but also don't feel like a nurse because I don't have a nursing job. Yeah doing bww at home basically makes all my excuses irrelevant. I was so excited to use the free gym at school but parking is crazy expensive and it's way too much effort to bus back and forth. And hey nothing is better than working out with the morning sun shining on you!

"Week" 1 Progress smoothie 2/3 workout 2/2 study 2/3 I need to be getting up when my alarm goes off. I slept in on Sunday and wasn't productive with my morning.

Hey MissCurlyFrog! #1 I've had the same issues! I'm just finishing my nursing degree so between classes, clinical, and work came some not so great food decisions. The best solution I've found for breakfast so far is to make a smoothie the night before, leave it in the fridge and you're good to go in the morning! I got a little blender bottle so it's easy to mix up as you go (it'll separate a bit weirdly overnight) and it's the only way I actually get breakfast in. I usually drink it throughout the morning too since, even though I LOVE breakfast foods, I don't like eating right away when I get up, especially for 8am classes or 7am shift starts! My typical smoothie is frozen fruit/berries, ground flaxseed powder and half a scoop of chocolate protein powder, but it took several tries to figure out what I liked and how much to include. #2 Honestly, I still struggle with this. I made brownies with butterscotch chips yesterday and they were sooooo good! I agree with everyone else saying to give them away. I made them for a potluck and it was nice because I had a few (more than I should have!) but I couldn't sit there and devour the whole pan because they weren't there! I'm finding that 70% dark chocolate bars are great because you get a bit of the chocolate flavour to satisfy the craving but it's also dark enough that I don't want more than a little bit. #3 I'm a stress-eater and comfort food is another vice for me. No real tips here, but I'm going to try @Plazmotic and @Dalish's tips for carbs and comfort food! Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear that! How is your Grandmother doing? It's really good that the walking/running is working out. And honestly, building that one habit is a fantastic success! Don't beat yourself up over the ones that didn't work out as well as you wanted. See if there's anything you can learn from them to either approach the challenge differently or find something else that works better with your lifestyle and current life stressors. Remember that there's nothing wrong with becoming angry. It's what you do with it that matters. Maybe you can use your walks/run to physically work out anger when it comes up? Don't give up! ANY progress made is worth celebrating.

Laidir here! I know I'm late for joining this challenge but I'm hoping to set myself up with some basic healthy habits before the next challenge! I'm finishing my Bachelor of Nursing next week (shameless brag!) and I need to start taking better care of myself. Stress has done a number on my body and I just discovered that I've gained 25 lbs throughout the program and am now technically a little bit overweight. Which is super weird because for the longest time, I could not gain weight no matter how hard I tried (I wanted boobs, what can I say :P). Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes all run in my family and I'd like to do what I can to avoid them. ;P I'd like to lose 10-15 lbs and see how I'm doing at that point, but ultimately I just want to be stronger, healthier, and feel energized. Food Have a healthy smoothie every morning - I normally don't eat breakfast and when I start my day eating something nutritious I eat better throughout the day. Fitness Do the playground or living room workout 3x per week - I want to master my body so bodyweight workouts make sense. (future assassin maybe?) (Also, I did the playground workout for the first time this morning and it was so nice!! I live in a basement suite so actually seeing the sun was WONDERFUL!) Life Study for the NCLEX (Registered Nurse licensing exam) at least 1 hour every day - Ideally on days off I need to be studying for several hours but this should build the habit and keep the content in mind every day. My goal is to be ready to take the NCLEX by the mid-end of May.

Thanks!! Sounds good, thanks for sharing! I will have to try it! I only did one hip opener but it was good. I never realized how much tension is carried in the hips!

No problem, I hope they work for you! Oh thatust be frustrating! Good luck with the MCAT studies! It sounds like you're off to a good start! I'd recommend trying the suggested 1400 and then adjust if that doesn't work for you. I'd imagine it will be a smoother transition if you don't cut calories drastically all at once.

I think I'm going to check in daily because I have a bajillion excuses right now and need that kind of constant accountability! Day One! - No hot chocolate! It was tempting because the winter chill is in the air, but I stayed strong! - Had a heaping handful of carrots with "supper". And by supper I mean a bowl of sugar crisp cereal in between group project meetings and writing papers... Let's just say I have a long way to go. I'm thinking I'll tackle suppers in the next challenge when I'm off between semesters. (any tips for super quick and easy healthy meals would be greatly appreciated!) - No workout today but I'm going to hold some yoga poses before bed. - Dishwasher is loaded! Still some to catch up on but will have to run a load tomorrow first.

This one is a nice one specifically for anxiety. His voice is super calming which is really nice. (17 minutes long) This one is my absolute favourite! Really good for remembering to look at things in perspective. I had an aha moment the first time I listened to it. (10 minutes) You can search specifically for different things too like meditations for concentration/depression/relaxation/motivation and things like that or shorter/longer ones depending on what you want. There are 5 minute ones out there too that would match up with your goal. That sounds brutal! Is your gig related to your field of study? I'm in my last year of nursing school and will be starting my final preceptorship and intense studying for the NCLEX next semester and what I've finally learned is that prioritizing mental/physical health actually does make it easier to cope with all of life's other demands. Now it's just about retraining myself to actually do the healthy things!

I hear ya on the school and anxiety front! Meditation can be so helpful with that, I've also found yoga to be really helpful with staying on track in the midst of those struggles. I really like guided meditations (just from YouTube) because it's easier to stay focused. Definitely following, good luck!

Hi all! I am here because I'm tired of feeling, well, tired! I am in my fourth year of nursing school and married with a basement suite to manage which have been my main excuses for not taking better care of my health. The challenges of all the above, especially nursing school, have made me incredibly mentally strong (I'm not full of myself, I swear!), but I feel I am lacking in physical strength. I am inspired by black widow and want to be able to kick ass like she does! I also have some GI issues that would be helped a lot by cleaning up my diet, which currently consists of anything quick and lots of cheese and sugar. I'm starting with bodyweight exercises and yoga/some meditation for stress. I just started a 4 week challenge in the Rebel guild but will likely move to assassins as I am inspired by the idea of mastering my bodyweight. I would also like to try parkour! Basically, I see myself at level 50 as a badass action heroine!! On a side note: Laidir is Irish for strong. Strength of body and mind is my ultimate, super broad goal so I picked Laidir as a reminder of that.

I haven't heard of the 5 minute journal style. My advice is to try anything that catches your eye, but don't worry if it doesn't end up working for you! I like doing weekly and monthly layouts as a planner-type thing and have found that designing them is a great creative outlet for me. But you can go as fancy or as simple as you want!

Thanks LucentFrost!

Thank you Butternut!!

I think it's great you are able to anticipate barriers to your goals and make a plan for those days! Consciously practicing positivity is such a valuable tool to use, especially on days that you feel beaten down and exhausted. I'm rooting for you!

I love your plan to treat yourself like a 3-year-old!! Fantastic!! Setting boundaries is SO important. Especially when you are already at/near the breaking point. Society is messed up and tries to make people feel selfish for setting boundaries for their own health and well being, but if you don't, you get run down and can't do whatever it was that took up your time/energy in the first place! Never feel guilty for doing what YOU need to do to take care of yourself first! <3

Hi trickstur! Love your Minerva Acadamy set up! I also bullet journal and would be interested in seeing your tracking board if you're willing to share. Keep up the good energy!

Hey trickstur! That's awesome! We've got this!! I'll hop on over and check your challenge out!

I've always been an 'overeager beaver' who jumps in head first, tries to make huge changes overnight and then (go figure) falls flat on my face and fails miserably. SO I'm definitely into trying small changes and actually succeeding with my goals! Here's my first 4 Week Challenge! Diet - Replace hot chocolate with tea - Eat a veggie at one meal every day Fitness - Complete the beginner bodyweight workout 3x per week Level Up My Life - ALL dishes must be cleaned or loaded into dishwasher before bed every night.