chirithy

Pretty good is better than perfect, some might even argue. 🙂 Funnily enough, while I'm blessed to say that I've got a decent streak going for meditation (a disclaimer though: some of those days involved a single, one-minute breathing meditation lol), I, too, have yet to meditate at a regular time! I've been doing it long enough to feel weird when I haven't meditated yet, but not at a regular time yet, just like my sleep schedule, lol. Thanks so much for sharing!

So... I meant to write in here much earlier, but ended up getting locked out of my account on my phone last night and then just decided to put it off until now. So here I am! There are 11 days left in this challenge. While I have yet to look extensively at my Fitbit sleep logs, I think it's safe to say that my main goal of establishing a healthier sleep hygiene/routine during this period has ironically, only led to the worsening of my sleep. I no longer take my daily walks, and I habitually grab my phone (more often than not) whenever I am unable to sleep. I think I've been trying to do a lot of other things in this period besides that though (because I simply can't stand the thought of focusing on ONLY getting good sleep... as essential as that is). It's because I'm in a transitional period of my life where I'm moving a lot of things between two locations, cleaning/sorting/donating/reorganizing said items, ironing out some wrinkles in my relationship, and searching for a job. Long-term, I have an idea of where I'd like to be, but I'm still not 100% sure about it yet. Which is frustrating, but it's okay. I'll get there soon enough. But if there's at least one good thing to come out of all this: I'm happy to say that after 22 job applications over the course of several weeks, I'm finally employed again! Yay. I'm also seeing a light at the end of my cleaning tunnel, and the dust has finally settled with my aforementioned relationship. Because of the great things that have been happening, especially of late, I've found the energy and momentum to resume my habit of taking 30-minute walks everyday in the sunlight and found the discipline to move my phone charging station farther away from my bed. My Fitbit has definitely noticed that I sleep for longer and better on the days when I get more exercise, so this is good. I am anxious for the chance to swim again, but my neighborhood pool is still closed, so for now, bodyweight cardio & workouts it is. A part of me is really happy with the success that I've found so far, and yet, I also can't help but feel a seed of dissatisfaction and greed. I want more dramatic progress overnight, in MULTIPLE areas of my life... but I should stay vigilant for and proud of the progress that I have made thus far. It's the little, consistent good habits that I should be more concerned with. Gradual, more permanent progress is better than sweeping changes that are easily reversed. Meanwhile, I'm really thankful for getting the opportunity to work at the job I was selected at and am happy for this temporary abundance of time for me to re-establish healthy living habits again. It's been awhile since I've started prioritizing my own sense of satisfaction in my pursuit of the Good Life, so this is nice. 'Til next we meet, fellow rebels.

Hey, just wanted to pop in and say you're making brilliant progress. When the circumstances aren't perfect, I find it really easy to get into this negative self-talk of, "aww, I didn't sleep enough, guess I'll let today slide," but you're out here working on that challenge regardless of what happens. That's so cool. Keep up the great work!

Well said! I remember having to prioritize my curfew so much as a kid (who also didn't have a cell phone or steady social media outlet until high school) and somewhat resenting it. All the cool kids seemed like they could hang out with their friends whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted! But now that I'm much older and more learned (hopefully), it seems that my parents were up to something right, several things in fact! HAHAHAHA!!! You are so cool. I love anime for how over-the-top it can be, and Ballroom e Youkoso is no exception. I will definitely make a separate post regarding my dance journey. Thank you!

It is 3/3. I've just officially begun in earnest to correct my sleeping schedule. On the night of 3/2, I turned off my phone to sleep at 11:57 pm and woke up at around 7 am. My sleep quality was passable (had some weird dreams), but I failed to fight the temptation to hit snooze and instead just laid in bed, browsing the Interwebz on my phone. This past weekend, I was also sleeping considerably early at my apartment in another city and actually woke up at around 8 am. It really helped that I had my phone charging in a different room. I will apply a similar practice tonight and see what happens! My mission: to sleep by midnight and to wake up at 8, without hitting the snooze button!

(I've just belatedly realized that I could have simply quoted and answered all the posts in a single submission... To all of y'all, please pardon my noobness here!!) I haven't received nearly as much experience in ballroom than I had with swing, but I think it is quite intricate and beautiful to behold while having diverse styles! To let my nerdiness show, one of my favorite anime/manga in recent memory, 'Welcome to the Ballroom!!', has really changed my mind on the subject matter. I can't say how representative it is of real life competitive ballroom dancing, but it is sincerely a fantastic series. If you don't indulge in anime though, please ignore this. 😅

Hehehe ❤️ Thanks! For now, I will just stick with establishing sound sleep hygiene habits for now, but doing harder cardio workouts, alongside strength training provided by the bodyweight workout, will improve the quality of my sleep for sure. I'm really looking forward to the routine that NF has designed for us!

Thanks! I just talked to my therapist about these goals, and she said that habit take about 14-21 days to fully form, possibly even longer. She really encouraged me to stick with just one goal for now and to stack on more later. So for now, I'm gonna establish a regular, sufficient sleeping schedule and stop hitting the snooze button! It's a tough goal, but I know it'll elevate my life that much more once I master it.

Thanks, fellow rebel! I would love to try hip-hop dancing specifically, and no, I haven't made a plan for lessons yet! Great question. I want to wait until I get a job, but there's nothing stopping me from taking free classes at dance studios and seeing which studio I like best! I've tried swing dancing before, and that was really cool and fun! Thanks for the support, especially regarding my timing. I think I may actually reduce my number of goals to three, specifically by nixing the vegetable habit. I KNOW that veggies are really important, but I have a big life change coming soon, and I want to avoid taking on too much at once! I will change this in my original post to reflect this decision!

Hi, there! I'm a newbie, just in case you've forgotten, like I just have. I joined the NF Academy about a month ago and have found wonderful support through the Facebook group and wanted to get my feet wet in the forums. I found Nerd Fitness probably through a subreddit or on the Googles when I was extensively researching about exercise and fitness during my gap years following college. I ultimately ended up joining when I found myself having to withdraw from graduate school due to personal reasons, unfortunately, and had this sudden abundance of "free" time that I needed to fill. Working on healthy habits with a moderated online community seemed like a good place to start. 🙂 I grew up playing console J-RPGs like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy around the PS2 era (I'm a younger millenial) and enjoy watching anime and listening to K-pop among other things, hahaha. I hope to give back to fellow fans by learning how to draw, writing some fanfic (lol!), and... picking up gardening. I chose the Assassin guild because I would love to learn how to dance (again, was inspired by the K-pop idols and professional dancers that I spend so much time watching...!). Not only is it healthy, but dance is a beautiful combination of artistry and athleticism. My current Main Quest right now is to improve my all-around physical fitness! My four supporting quests are: to embark on intermittent fasting (via a 12-hour eating window and reducing it by one hour each week until I get to 8!), eating one vegetable with at least one meal everyday, completing the NF bodyweight workout at least once a week, and finally going to bed 10 minutes earlier each week, up until I reliably go to bed by 10 pm! [EDIT 3/4/2020: I've reduced the number of my supporting quests to only one on the recommendation of my therapist, who states that habits can take about 14-21 days to form and really wanted to make sure I didn't overwhelm or frustrate myself. It seems better to succeed fully at one new habit than to work on multiple habits and not really establish any of them. Perhaps once I get my sleep hygiene down, I can kick it up to two!] While I'm late in joining the challenge, I'm really looking forward to rocking it with y'all regardless. May fortune smile upon us this leap year!