Eryn

Whoa! Where was that photo taken?

Hello adventurers ⚔️ On this 18th day of April 2020, I begin my food and training log, as a way to ensure accountability! I am a girl (or woman?) in my 20’s, 5’4", and 124 lbs. I have always been physically fit — I have a black belt in taekwondo and I have run a mile in 7 min 15 seconds. However, those milestones were achieved back when I was a teenager. Throughout my college years, I lacked the time management skills necessary to balance academics and physical activity. Now that I am back home, I hope to regain my former strength and become even stronger than I used to be. I do not wish to completely cut out any particular food groups from my diet; I rather want to simply practice moderation and limiting my consumption of processed foods. I also wish to use this time off to exercise 7 days a week, for 45 min each day, doing both cardio and strength training. So...first of all, my food intake for today: Morning: 1 bagel with cream cheese 1 cup of tea with milk 1 glass of protein, fruit & veggie shake Afternoon: 1 small bowl of fried rice with broccoli 2 small baked potatoes (seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil) 1 large cup of coffee with oat milk and 1 spoon brown sugar 1 bowl of chickpeas (Indian style) Evening: Jelly beans (~130 cal, 30g sugar) 5 small slices of homemade, thin-crust veggie pizza

Greetings, fellow adventurers! My name is Erynsûl Luicarnë, though you may call me "Eryn" for short. My true name is known only to those closest to me — for I am a rogue — but this is the name I use while conducting most of my business. 😉 By day, I am a student at a prestigious academy of healing magic, perusing through tomes and learning about diseases and their remedies. When I am not studying, I enjoy increasing my strength and dexterity stats, studying the languages spoken in far-off realms, and learning new tunes I hope to one day play at a tavern near you. Never one to accept stagnation, I feel that there is always something I can improve upon — that there are always stats I can increase to make myself a more balanced hero. And my purpose in joining the Rebellion is to seek like-minded adventurers and help each other fulfill our destinies! As I am only in my 20’s (which is very young for a half-elf), I do not yet know where my chosen path will ultimately take me. My dream, however, is to gain the renowned knowledge and craftsmanship skills of my elven ancestors — as well as the ambition and compassion of my fellow humans — to bring positive change to my community. Here is my tentative list of Epic Quests:

Hey all :) So, for years, I've had trouble waking up early on my own. These days, I wake up at 11am or 12pm on average --- way too late, I know. This is despite me setting multiple alarms on my phone and putting the phone in a place that's hard to reach. I believe this bad habit has formed for multiple reasons: difficulty falling asleep without something (ex: an audiobook or calming music) playing in the background to distract me from my own thoughts --- I have both ADHD and anxiety, and trouble falling asleep has been strongly correlated with both conditions. mental laziness in the form of me turning the alarm off, thinking to myself, "Just 5 more minutes..." and the next thing you know, hours have passed before I decide to get out of bed. vivid dreams from Zoloft (sertraline) --- I started taking this medication about a year ago to treat my anxiety. It works pretty well, but the main drawback is that it sometimes causes me to have dreams that are barely distinguishable from reality, to the point where it takes me hours to wake up and realize that I had in fact been asleep the whole time. side effects from Keppra (an anti-epileptic drug) --- I have been taking it for almost a decade to treat my seizures, but drowsiness is one of the most commonly experienced side effects. lack of structure in my life due to me no longer having to physically travel to school/work. When I wake up early, it's almost always because I'm forced to, whether it's school, work, or some other event I have to attend. But since that need for punctuality has largely been removed, I've found myself slipping back into my bad habit of going to bed late and waking up late. I think another reason for this is that, ever since I've moved back in with my family due to the COVID-19 crisis, my general level of discipline has gone down. I no longer need to cook, clean, and buy groceries on my own; as a result, I feel lazier than before. To combat my tendency to wake up late and turn off my phone alarms, I've tried putting my phone outside my room or in a place inside my room that's hard for me to reach. The thing is, when I put my phone outside my room, I don't always hear the alarm. Meanwhile, the rest of my family does hear it, and they've complained to me multiple times about being woken up by my alarms. Who else is experiencing something similar? How do you resist the temptation to postpone your alarms?

I have a younger brother who is tall and strong, but overweight and rather sedentary. He is 19 years old, 6’3", and over 240 lbs. He was always a chubby kid with a tendency to overload with junk food, but I guess my parents never decided to take his bad habits seriously enough, despite my father’s efforts to encourage him to lose weight (which, to this day, consist mostly of him yelling at my brother about how tight his clothes have gotten and why the hell he won’t do anything about it). A doctor’s visit from several years ago revealed that he was pre-diabetic, and I’m assuming he still is. He doesn’t really care about things like simple vs. complex carbs, portion control, or high- vs low-glycemic index foods. And with all this news about young people dying from COVID-19 due to preexisting conditions like obesity and diabetes, I’m really starting to get worried. I (24F) have always cared a lot about my own physical health — I’m actually studying to become a doctor. I try to limit my intake of processed foods, I rarely eat out these days, and I exercise regularly. My BMI has always been in the healthy zone, and over the years I’ve discovered ways to make exercise more fun for myself. I’m actually a huge nerd who loves video games and pretty much all things medieval fantasy, but hobbies like martial arts and LARP have helped me to stay fit over the years. My brother has also always been a bit of a geek. Like...we both like to play Smash Bros and Dragon Ball Z games together, for instance, but I’ve found more satisfaction from learning to fight like those characters in real life than to just be good at button mashing combinations. Unfortunately, my brother does not share those interests. TL;DR I don’t know how to encourage my brother to improve his diet and start a regular exercise routine. I don’t think he’s as willing to suspend his disbelief as I am and use his fictional role models to motivate him to get in better shape. I remember not too long ago that he mentioned he was interested in taking boxing classes, as he is physically very strong and boxing would seem cathartic for him. However, that wouldn’t be possible right now, due to the closure of all non-essential businesses. What would you suggest I do?