klinc

I feel you for sure. I've been working for a small business for the past ten years - and most of the employees were remote pre-pandemic. And with Covid and working from home - my already small social circle became even smaller. Last year I resolved to try to get out there more so I volunteered for some new projects, and it was a total bust. Many of the people I met on the projects were super unfriendly and hard to work with. 😅 This week I'm starting a new job at a university - and I'm really hoping that it's a good fit and I get to meet some new people. I had totally forgotten about Nerd Fitness - but when I was thinking about how to maintain my fitness with commuting and all that I remembered about it. So I'm back and essentially a newbie here too. 🙂

Sounds like you are doing great!! 😀

Good on you for pushing yourself!! (But I think Jesus was probably right, and it would be okay to ease into things more gradually). Whenever I first started working out, I had a few times where I didn't think I was overdoing it and then could barely walk the next day - so be careful! I'm a long time Jazzerciser. (<--It took me years to admit this out loud, but really it's fun!!). Anyway - there's a quite a lot of squatting involved; and when I started and there was a routine with squats I'd want to leave the room/punch someone in the face; but now my squat endurance is no joke. If you stay with it - I'm sure you'll notice that it starts getting easier pretty quickly! (But at the same time squats do stay hard!! - and like Mortimer says there are lots of ways you can keep pushing yourself with them). It's kind of like this - if you just do 10 squats forever - they'll get easier - but guaranteed they'll still feel a little uncomfortable. But if you add more squats over time - then 10 squats really will feel like nothing but you'll only maintain this by pushing yourself to your new edge. I was REALLY out of shape when I started working out, and in some ways I think this was a blessing because I got really hooked on how far I had progressed and I kept wanting to see how much more I could do. I've seen a lot of people start exercising at a higher level of fitness than I had and they can plateau pretty easily because they don't ever push themselves past that.

9 is a big drop from 14! I think Mortimer's suggestion is good too. If you felt totally deprived today you can budge it bit by bit.

Thanks for the comment, Jean! When I was a teen, I was a bookworm who was really into music; and I think being a nerdy girl made me shrug off/rage against who society wanted me to be. I just wanted to play guitar. This is part of the reason having perfectionist tendencies really took me off guard as a 30+ year old woman. Part of me feels like, "Wait - wasn't I above all that?" I guess having more responsibilities - made me take other people's expectations more seriously; and it seems like in the process I lost faith that being myself was/should be enough? Anyway - I can report things are going well (ish) so far... I have managed to eat protein at 2 meals a day every day! I skipped yoga one day already (!) so I decided to sign up for more structured classes to keep on track and I think this has helped (4 out of 5). And I'll give myself a B+ with cleaning. I've definitely been a lot better about picking things up as I go and having the goal in mind has made me more conscientious about other cleaning. But if it gets late I tend to go easy on myself (like yesterday I folded all of my laundry and put it in my room... and even though it's clearly not entirely put away, I can talk myself into this being a decent level of completeness)... I think the best work around may be to to revise Goal 2. Goal 2.1: Pick up the house every evening immediately after dinner.

When I write things down and look at them later, it can feel like looking at an unflattering photo. ;p It's hard for me to admit I'm not as smart and polished as I want to imagine... so underneath all the other goals - part of what I want to accomplish with this is being more accepting of my unvarnished reality. Over the years I've had spreadsheets and lists with goals - and at some point I realized that a lot of them were all about trying to be "perfect" or as close to perfect as I could get. I was aiming for the perfect house, perfect yard, perfect wardrobe, perfect body, perfect diet; while trying to be the perfect daughter, friend, employee, pet owner, etc. I think all these things sound good - and I just bought into the idea that if I got closer to perfection - then I would be happier. But I started realizing that chasing them was kind of making me feel worse. It felt like I was always falling short, and there was always too much that I was supposed to be doing... so I've decided to refocus and get back to basics. In a funny way - I guess I'm still chasing perfect - but instead of trying to do more and be more - I want to strip it down. Quests for 9/19 - 9/20: De-stress, De-clutter, Basic body maintenance I have a really stressful job, I've been struggling with some injuries (from aerobics), and I'm a long time vegetarian (that's somewhat lazy about getting in green leafies and protein) - which means I can be a bit lethargic and struggle with recovery. So my starting goals are: First 4 weeks: Goal 1. Do yoga for 30 minutes a day with an emphasis on breathing and hip mobility. (De-stress + basic body maintenance) Goal 2. Pick up the house every evening before bed. (De-clutter) Goal 3. Eat protein in 2 of my main meals (Basic body maintenance)