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Hi, everyone! I know I'm a bit late to the challenge, but I figured that this would be a good way to get my feet wet. So here are my goals for the next few days! 1) Write down everything I eat. 2) Do some type of exercise every day (usually strength training, walking, and/or pell work). 3) Take time for self-care every day.

Hi friends! It's been soooo long. I started a challenge in the beginning of the year and I stopped again. For some reason I couldn't follow through. But I'm back again. I missed you guys. I have been keeping up with fitness and nutrition (with varying success), but a little accountability couldn't hurt 😅 So without further ado, here are my goals for this challenge: Nutrition I've been on Noom for a bit now, following their course. I know, there are many people who say it's not good for you. And I see their point (I really don't like their color system). But there is also a lot on there that IS good for me. I've been learning a lot about the psychology side of eating. I've had quite a few aha moments. So my first nutrition goal is to continue the noom course, maybe I can even finish it within this challenge as I am over half way. Noom has been talking about different eating strategies. Like paleo, keto, and intermittent fasting (IF). I've had lots of success with IF in the past, until I hadn't. When researching how to do IF when you got a female body I stumbled across the book "Fast like a girl". And it talks on how to do fasting in sync with your monthly cycle. This should take care of the side effects I was having when trying it in the past (hair loss, irregular period etc.), and should even help fix some issues I've been having for ages but my doctor can't help me with like stiff muscles, fatigue and painfull periods. There are 2 versions: a beginner one and an advanced one. I'm going to try the advanced one, but will fall back to the beginner one if necessary. (The beginner one is in parenthesis) So this is going to be my fasting schedule according to my cycle. Day 1 is the first day of my period, and I have a 28 day cycle (more or less). Day 1-5: 15 (13) hour fast Day 6: 24 (15) hour fast Day 7-10: 17 (17) hour fast Day 11-15: 15 (13) hour fast Day 16: 24 (15)hour fast Day 17-19: 17 (15) hour fast Day 20-28: 13 hour fast (no fasting) Fitness I found a zumba class that's a 5 minute walk from my house! So I'm going there once a week. I even got a punch card instead of a subscription, which is so perfect for me. I'm never leaving there. Next to this I've been trying so many different workout schedules and styles. Now I'm doing ringfit (nintendo switch) for an hour twice a week. I had been having trouble with hitting a wall 30 minute into my workout. Then I came across a video about pre-workout. I thought that was just for body builders, but apparently it's for when you want to workout longer. I found one without cafeïne or other stimulants, because I can't sleep if I have more than 3 cups of coffee a week (yes, a week you heard me right). And the stuff is epic! No more wall. Sure, I get tired and sore from the workout, but there is no block that makes it feel I'm standing in quick sand while trying to workout. I have no side effects. I researched the ingredients and everything I found says the stuff is save and you won't develop a dependence on it. Enrichment I should read more. I want to. But my phone and pc are such an easy distraction. So my goal this challenge is to read 10 pages a day. Of any book. I think that's it. I'm going to find some Doodlies now to say hi to. If they're still around here that is. And if you want to be friends, just drop a message below. It's fun meeting new people here 🙂

Lately I've been reading With Winning in Mind. I want to try two things from the book, which are keeping a performance journal, and visualization. The elements of a performance journal are: Schedule: time slots that you plan to devote to some area of your training. I'll ignore this one for this challenge. General data section: dat, location, event (training or competition), time of day, duration of activity, exactly what you learned, what you accomplished, number of attempts, how you spent time, result/score. No training = no entry Solution analysis: solutions to challenges that you've discovered. Or write "I'm looking for a solution to..." Success analysis: anything you did well Goal statement: state an objective in the first person present tense, as if you have already reached it For visualization, every time I do a not-easy jump/move, visualize it going perfectly before and after doing the move. So visualize, jump, then visualize again. Main quests Keep a performance journal for each training day Visualize before and after for each not-easy jump or movement

I wanted a small character/story segment here, but my inspiration is failing me. Perhaps tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I've noticed an interesting drift in my library book collection. It's far from my whole collection (you do not want to see the whole collection), but there's a rough theme going here. See if you can see it too: I appear to be collecting books about connection: connecting with nature through being in and doing things in nature, connecting with my body by getting in healthy movement, connecting with the past in this place as well as its ancestral language, and connecting with myself and what I want out of life in both a hands-on and mental health/self-helpy sort of way. And all of it together nurtures a spiritual connection, tying the individual to the whole and to the animating spirit behind it all. So for this challenge, I would like to connect with the land. My next five weeks is looking to be unpredictable and not at all a good time for new habit formation writ large. But that also makes it a good time for experimentation and trying new things. So that is what I shall do. Touch the land. Do some exercise every day. My exercise program literally has movements themed after animals. It's a perfect fit! I have had real trouble fitting this into my life though due to working a lot of late evenings lately and just not thinking of it before being dead tired. I think my best best is to tie it to the one consistent thing in my evenings. After I put down my suppertime reading book, I will open my GMB app and choose a program. Then I will hug the phone to my chest. Visit the land. Go outside every day. Kind of what it says on the tin. I already have a reasonably good habit of taking walks at night, but they are often initiated by my son, who will be away for most of this challenge. So the goal is to get myself out there, day or night. Discover the land. This is tied to the previous item. There are a lot of interesting things in nature, and I want to take the time to notice them. Find good nearby foraging spots for the plants I like best. Listen to the frogs sing. Find some hatching turtles and help them on their way. Cut some wildflowers to enjoy at home. Look at the constellations. You get the idea. Share the thing that I did or observed here, however small it was. Spirit of the land. Prayer and reading. Gratitude. Meditation. Sitting and thinking and listening. I am not sure what form this will take. My prayer involves touching water and the ground. The other things listed do not involve physical touching, but spiritual; preparation of the self for a different sort of touch. This should also happen every day but not necessarily every part. I shall think more on this. Purify the land. Get rid of stuff. I have piles of stuff cluttering my space again (because I am a terrible housekeeper and also it has been a busy time), as well as piles remaining of undealt-with stuff from god only knows when. The fresh clutter won't take too long to deal with: goal target, end of zero week. As for the rest of the Stuff, something every day, multiple somethings if that is realistic. I want to see progress, but I also know that some items require actual work and time, while some can go straight to the trash. So no number-of-items target. Walk with the people of the land. Connect with the other challenges. Post. Be present with others on their journey. Give support. With our virtual hands held, we can walk together. After I have checked my Discord servers (after either waking up or getting home from work), I will catch up on at least one challenge. Then I will imagine that person surrounded by positive things, and smile. Talk to the land (bonus). I have been unable to resist the lure of Anishinaabemowin since getting a taste at the Esperanto conference last year. I've never tried a Pimsleur course, and the dialect on which this is based is more western than I would prefer, but hey, I ordered it in, so let's give it a go. Not sure if one lesson a day is realistic because I have no idea how long the lessons are, so this is a work in progress. (This challenge is subject to change. It is very late and I am throwing it down without a lot of forethought right now with the intention of editing it later if need be.)

Notes and thinking have not been super helpful in the interval since the last challenge, and I'm already a week late on this one, oops! Here's what we'll try this time around. We all know the basic basic stuff to achieve healthy body and healthy mind: eat well, sleep enough, get some exercise, spend time with people, and so on. I'm going to throw down a grab bag of these basic basic habits and see what happens. There will also be a new mental health-y thing to try each week. This is going to look like a lot, but much of this is already happening in at least a scattershot way. Eating - Plan, in advance, at least one meal per week that is approximately 1/2 vegetables, 1/4 carbs, and 1/4 protein by volume. Exercise - I have physio and regular exercises. Aim to do physio daily and exercise at least 3x per week. Sleep - Get at least 8 hours of sleep, preferably every night, but at least five nights per week. Gratitude - A new thing and therefore by definition a work in progress. For now, I will say that before bed, I will take a regular piece of lined paper and write at least three things that I am grateful for from that day. Hobbies - Work on a hobby item (knitting, tatting, sewing, etc) at least 3 days per week. If I try a new thing (ex. making jam), that can count for more than one day if it took a lot of planning, research, time, or mental effort. Connect - I would like to make the effort to talk to someone outside of work to build and maintain relationships every day, whether that is in person or online. If I don't initiate the conversation, that's okay. If the other person doesn't respond or has to cut things short, that's also okay. I would also like to attend a social event and/or volunteer for something for at least one hour once per week, so that I can meet new people and give back to my community. I would also like to post on at least one person's challenge here, as this community is important to me too. Kindness- Make an effort to do something kind for someone every day. This can be words or deeds, big or small, at work or outside of it. Go outside - Get some sunshine every day. It it's raining, at least open the window and make the time to enjoy the smells and sounds of nature. Ramadan habits - At the moment, this is "when my prayer alarm goes off, touch water" (this is a lead-in step to encourage prayer without requiring it) and reading at least on app page of scripture every day. I think the daily videos I was watching for Ramadan were wonderful but also a lot of maintain for a daily challenge. I will say one similar thing per week for now. Reading - Read something from a book, electronic or dead tree, every day. I have a nice list of short story authors that I made at the start of the year that I can draw from, or whatever I have on the go (I usually have at least three things on the go). Weekly Challenges: Week 1: Sit down and think about what my ideal life really looks like in all of its various facets. It's been a while since I did this. Then set up a morning routine of picking at least one action for the day that will work towards bringing that ideal life to fruition. I'm hoping this will give me a bit of direction for the day, plus a sense of progress and hope for the future. Week 2: Try mindfulness/meditation. I'm not sure what this will look like yet. Maybe I will try an app (anyone have suggestions?). Or maybe a daily activity that I can practice mindfulness through. Week 3: Put some of those CBT skills into action! Focus on countering intrusive thoughts, creating positive self-talk, and reframing things. Week 4: Find a therapist. I really don't want to, but I think it would be helpful, so do the scary thing. Okay, looks good. See you all tomorrow, and I hope you all have a basic basic healthy day!

Building on my previous challenge of 1 backflip per week (layouts, pucked backflips, non-landed ones all count), I'm going to try and do them with feeling this time. Not sure what that means yet Main quest 1 backflip per week, with feeling

My partner of over 12 years and I are FINALLY tying the knot in October! It's been a long and bumpy road, and I'm so excited!! I am less than excited though about my health, which has steeply deteriorated the last half a year or so. Between financial stress, family health stress (several cancers have been popping up in my immediate family), and work stress, I've been absolutely exhausted and drained and letting myself go. While my perfectionism would love to focus solely on getting my weight down, I know that would only wind up making things worse. So instead I am forcing myself to focus on making myself FEEL better, and be more healthy in general, and the weight will eventually follow, even though it will likely be a lot slower than I would want. For this first challenge we'll start kinda slow. Nutrition: We have been eating out basically every meal lately, it is hitting the waist line almost as hard as the pocket book and therefore is a HUGE stressor right now. I want to focus on only eating out 5 times or less a week for this first challenge. What constitutes eating out: Takeout, drive-thru, restaurant. What does not constitute eating out: meals at family's house (regardless of whether it's takeout), family gatherings at a restaurant when paid by family (Sunday lunch with my parents after church is still considered eating out). Fitness: I am going to start focusing on getting my core strength up. It is the area I am severely lacking in. To do this, I will be doing the Core Play program by Karina Dimitrovova. This is a 4 week program that I will repeat for a couple times (at least 3 times). It takes approximately 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week, with a 7th day of rest. If I feel up to it after my Core Play routine on Mon, Wed, a/o Fri, I can also do a water aerobics class at my local rec center, but this is completely optional for this first challenge. Mindset/Mental Health: I have been spending far too much time bingeing TV shows and webtoons lately, and just generally being pretty lazy, but lately I started re-reading the Harry Potter series, and remmebered just how much reading really calms and centers me. I have a buynch of books I've bought in the last couple years that I had ever intention to read, and never got to, so I will slowly make my way through them. In addition to rediscovering my love of reading, I have discovered a NEW SHINY HOBBY! of bookbinding! So my goal this challenege is to work for at least 30 minutes daily on either reading or bookbinding projects. In order to keep from going overboard on things to do, I will not be striving to update daily here, but I do need to have some sort of consistency goal for posting or I will completely drop off the challenge somewhere around week 2 or 3, so I will aim for at least 1 post/update a week So excited to get started!!

With the weather warming up, I'm reframing the old "sun's out, guns out" slogan to focus on the important artillery - not these guns but these: i.e., pistol squats! I made some good progress towards my first pistol squat last challenge, so we'll see if I can achieve one this time around. I'm following GMB's pistol squat progression (below) and supplementing it with additional single leg exercises for additional strength and mobility work. Overall I'm keeping my goals simple since life is still a bit crazy: Goal 1: Train at least 2x/week, including some sort of leg work for at least 2 sessions, too (tracking leg work with 🔫 and other sessions with 💪) Goal 2: Take my darn supplements every day (tracking with 💊) Other stuff that's going on: I'm travelling in early June, so I'll time that with a deload. My pull up bar is now installed, so I have a lot more exercise options! I thought about making that the focus on this challenge, but really want to nail the pistol squats first since they feel so close. However, I'll still spend some time hanging out on the bar. Gardening - mostly veg with some flowers mixed in. Job search/job search prep/career skill building. I'll use Zero Week as a warm up and start tracking with Week 1.

Ugh. Running. Not really my thing, but it's good for me for a variety of reasons. But most importantly, Little Bug enjoys it. And now that the rest of the family has started joining us for lifting, he was looking for an activity that was just the two of us. The weather is getting nicer, and it's probably good enough we can start getting out there again without needing a bunch of cold-weather running clothes, so here we go. Probably once a week, twice if we're feeling particularly inspired or something, plus lifting and roller derby. No particular race or anything in mind at the moment, but we'll likely do another virtual 5k this summer. We're going to try Zombies, Run! to get us started, and then as soon as their Marvel Move program becomes available, we'll be switching to that. I am also going to take another stab at cleaning up my eating. I have a vague idea of a plan, which probably means I'm not going to really succeed, but any progress is progress. Eventually I'll figure out a way to make all the work required to eat healthy fit into my schedule and be part of my "normal," but I'm not there yet. Let's goooooo!

This may be before some of your time, but when I was in high school there was a popular game franchise featuring the supervillain Carmen Sandiego She would run around the world stealing national treasures, anything from the Nile River Delta and the Casablanca to "All the Goulash" and "Every last drop of salsa". There were a number of spin offs, mostly focusing on specific geographies, but some focused on time (history) rather than geography. My challenge is going to be China Specific So for this challenge, I am going to try and steal a major tourist attraction from every Chinese Province, of which there are 33 (34 if you count Taiwan, which will be my bonus theft if I get all the others). In order to get the theft I have to do a certain amount of things each day. The challenge has 42 total days, which means I can miss 8 days and still get everything. In order to get my daily theft, I need to hit the following daily minimums Exercise: 5 pullups 20 pushups 10 leg raises Stretching: 5 minutes of some kind of static stretching Food: 0 sugary snacks 2 bottles of water Music 1 song practiced Housekeeping Vacuum the living room Disinfect Wraith's room In addition to the above, I will still do my regular exercising (which will now include running or some form of cardio) at the park, but that won't be a daily thing. I also need to figure out something about overall calories, but I haven't figured that part out yet. I will probably keep up with the story telling in some format, because NF doubles as my journal

So I know I'm joining really late in this challenge, which is why this is a prologue. I'll be using the rest of this week, and next week (zero week) getting myself set up for success going in to the next challenge. As you may be able to tell from the title, or if not, definitely by the tags, I'm getting married! The wedding is at the beginning of October this year, so I have almost 4 full challenges before then to get ready. Lately I have really (REALLY) let myself go, a combination of stress and health issues (my own and various family members) and I want to be feeling my best as I walk down the aisle. When you feel your best, you tend to look your best! Therefore I'm not going to focus too hard on specifically losing weight, but making changes that make me feel good, and the weight will eventually follow. The goals for the next 4 challenges will be roughly the same for each one, just building in intensity as I achieve goals. They will be roughly: 1. Nutrition: I will start off with decreasing eating out to just 4 times a week (currently, sadly, we are eating out almost 2-3 times a day, and this is greatly impacting my health, energy, stress, and pocket), then move on to only twice a week (Sunday lunch with my parents after church, and Wednesday lunch while doing laundry at the laundromat), Then focus will switch to what I am actually eating, and logging food. 2. Fitness: I will be going through Core Play again, doing at least 2 rounds of it, then deciding whether to continue with another round, adding more reps, or move on to Beyond Flexibility. I will also be doing a water fitness class anytime I feel like I can swing it. 3. Lifestyle/Mindset: I have started bookbinding and making my own sketchbooks and notebooks, so I will aim for 1 hour daily working on that, and then 1 hour of either reading, writing, or arting. So what is the prologue going to look like if those are my goals for the actual challenges? Well, like I said, I need to set myself up for the best chance at success, so this "prologue" will be for getting everything together. 1. Nutrition: I need a clean kitchen and clean dishes in order to prep food. Then I will also need to go shopping so there is actually food in the house to eat instead of ordering more food. So, daily I will be working on cleaning the kitchen and putting it back together (we've had to take it apart a couple times now due to roaches in the building and the new landlords actually doing something to get rid of them for real). I think 30 minutes daily will work greatly. I will also need to make a list of foods to prep, and grocery list based on that. Then go grocery shopping and prep some meal items. 2. Fitness: I need to renew my membership to my rec center, pack my gym bag and start packing it in my car, along with printouts of my workouts for the day. I need to figure out schedule of when the rooms I will want/need to use will be available, and what time classes are, and create a working schedule around that for sleeping. 3. Lifestyle/Mindset: Make sure I have all materials I will need for bookbinding, and clear off desk again. (clearing the desk shouldn't be too bad, it was done 2 weeks ago). Ready a list of books to read, and place them in bedroom near bed for reading before sleep. I will try to update semi-daily, but not stress myself out about it, I have enough going on already. I will commit to updating at least once weekly, to make sure I'm staying on track and focused. I encourage punishment for not posting updates for over a week. I have a bad habit of falling off the edge of the world after about 2 weeks...

I'm back with a low-key challenge after disappearing due to a combination of illness, stressors, and having other priorities. Going to keep the challenge set up and design simple because the priority is just making progress. Things have been happening offline - I've greatly improved our garden (we have grass now!), mostly painted another room in the house, and we got a DOG! The latter has been both disruptive and helpful when it comes to routines. I need to get back into the habit of doing strength/skill sessions, but thanks to regular dog walks I am at least getting ~5-8k steps in most days. My endurance is definitely better and my weight is in a good place, too. The other big to-do in my life is career planning/development, as I will be job-searching this summer. Right now I'm focusing on picking up more skills (adjacent to my current ones) so I have more options. I also need to build a portfolio that demonstrates those skills. So, goals for this challenge will be Figure out new routines for strength/skill/mobility work. By the end of the challenge, I'd ideally like to be training 2-3x/week. Sessions can and will be short while I figure out how to allocate spoons. I will also experiment with making my walks more difficult by rucking (which is completely new territory for me), and I will count that as a strength training option for this challenge. Do skill or career development at least 4x/week, with at least two "creative" sessions (i.e., making something that's not an example/tutorial, although it can use those as a basis). Again, these sessions don't need to be long or arduous - I just need to make consistent progress. As usual I will use emojis to track my progress: 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session 📚 career skills session 🎨 creative career skills session Week 1 (starting Monday) ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills] 📚 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

Maybe I set the bar too high last challenge. The goal this time is to do 1 backflip per week, and it counts even if I don't grab my tuck. So layouts and 'pucked' (open tuck) are all good. And it even counts if I touch my hands on the ground, as long as the intention was there. Main quest 1 measly backflip a week

Hooray for spring! This challenge month overlaps almost perfects with Ramadan, which has just begun, so I am going to be building habits based on that. I don't want to fill up my chat with religious stuff though, because I have no desire to proselytize anyone and it's not exciting stuff to anyone else. So I'm just going to call the new habits (reading, prayer, lectures, and so on) "daily Ramadan habits" and try my best to hit them. I'm using the Tiny Habits method to build these habits, and I've already got one that just feels perfect. The one goal I'm going to pull out separately is eating/drinking. I need to make sure that I eat enough, because I often don't at the best of times and now I'm on a reduced eating schedule. So at least one extra meal after supper, preferably high-calorie, and at least one bottle of water drunk. Should be easy, but it is important so it must get done. Physio exercises continue, but I need more. More strength; so weak. I am going to aim to do one session of GMB per day (I have several programs, so alternating for rest days or to compensate for a soreness should be easy), then check this goal in a week or two to see if there are any issues. I do best when I post here every day and put some time into reading others' challenges and supporting them too. So, post every day, read something, however little, every day, and try to post. My other stuff is a bigger priority, but I'm going to try to try. That's everything! Happy spring, and happy challenging!

Okay, I might still have a tiny spark of sass and style, but it needs to be fanned into flames for sure. I've got gains, but they aren't the good kind. I'm at 141.6 lbs. and heading the wrong way, so this challenge (my first one) is right on time. I need it. Really, really need it. I have been in a winter slump and it's time to move past it. I wish my brain could conjure a lovely tale complete with a point system and rewards, but that is a bit of a reach at the moment. Perhaps I will work on it during this challenge once my brain is functioning better. Anyway, on to my goals for these five weeks: Fitness: NF app's Bodyweight Level 1 Attempt a pullup every time I look at the anime dudes hanging from the bar in my kitchen doorway. Whatever pops in my head to move a little more that day (walk, dance, etc.). Drop under 135 lbs. Nutrition (I know what works for me and I have to just do it): Lots of good proteins, carbs and fats. Limit tea (seeing if it affects my migraines), caffeine, sugar, grains, and whatever else that keeps me sick and unhealthy. Drink at least five cups of water a day with plans to increase as I adjust. Plan some meals. Mindset: Use music to motivate myself. Spend a little time each week on learning to play either my guitar or the piano. Memorize something (some French, a new word, lyrics, etc.). Try to overcome my shy nature and meet people on here and become part of the community (totally outside of my comfort zone). Follow a better sleep routine and work my way off of Benadryl as a sleep aid. Get creative: art, photography, whatever creative thing pops in my head. Writing: Complete Camp NaNoWriMo (my first time participating in the camps). Set up Scrivener. Work on my novel or something novel related a little each day. Continue journaling and writing on 4TheWords (online fantasy writing game and tool). Okay, I think that is my plan. Detoxing from sugar, grains and caffeine will be rough for the first week or so, but I have done it before, and I can do it again. I just might be prone to growling, snarling and biting for a bit, but it's all good.

My challenges this year have all had some sort of travel-related theme in the name, so now I'm curious how long I can keep that going. I think climbing is appropriate for this one, because my 40th birthday happens to fall in the middle of it. I am most definitely NOT over any hills. I'm still climbing! I am also continuing with my attempts to climb the career ladder. I doubt I'll make any actual progress with that during the course of the challenge, but I'm going to keep trying. With any luck, I'll make the roster for our next travel team game and I will get to celebrate my 40th birthday by playing roller derby. I do really hope that fends off the expected (and dreaded) teasing about how old I am now. So, goals for this challenge... 1. Move every day for at least 20 minutes, 30 is better. This has been working really well for me so far this year, and I need to keep in shape/get in better shape to keep my spot on the roster. I've got my derby practice 2x/week, Little One's practice 1x/week, and lifting with Little Bug (and maybe the whole family?) 3x/week. Which leaves 1 day to do whatever I want, assuming it's a "normal" week. There are definitely going to be weeks that aren't normal. But I've got tons of pilates and yoga workouts to keep me busy, and if nothing else, walking in place (or a small circle) for 20 minutes is my absolute fall back. 2. Eat less sugar. I have my diet fairly well in hand, for the most part, and I'm doing pretty good with staying hydrated, though there's always room for improvement with both of those. That said, I have been having a few too many treats lately. So, aside from my morning coffee with fancy creamer (which you can pry from my cold, sleepy hands), I am going to try to limit myself to no more than 2 sweet treats/week. Easter, and a planned special day I will talk about later, are the exceptions. 3. Apply for another 5 jobs. Not really anything more to say about this one. Just need to do the thing.

In the famous story "And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street" by Dr. Suess, the father in the story is trying to get his son to pay attention to the world around him and asks him to tell something he saw on the way home from school each day. The boy of course thinks his surroundings too boring to talk about and imagines all kinds of fanciful situations which would make for a better story. I have been thinking about my own life and I have posted very little here recently because I felt like I had nothing interesting to say. My last challenge didn't even get to page 2, As I thought about this, I realized that my life may seem boring to me because I am used to it, but from others' perspectives there are many interesting things happening around me, if I only stop to notice them. My objective for this challenge is to try and find something each day that is interesting and come and talk about it here. Some of it may actually be interesting, but some days it may just be me seeing a Chinaman who eats with sticks Other normal challenge things like healthy eating and exercise will still be happening, but probably not with enough variety to get me interested enough to come here and tell about it.

This is my Year of Doing Brave Things, and so far things are going - oddly better than I expected? I had three overarching 20SOC goals for 2023. They all involved getting off my butt and out of my rut, doing things I've really wanted and made excuses not to do for way too long. 1. Audition for community theater 2. Submit a short story to a publisher 3. Shoot in a competition (I shoot long-range precision rifle) So far I've accomplished #1, and the fallout from that win has taken up all of my bandwidth for the past month and a half. I am playing Baptista Minola in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, with a steampunk circus setting. I am also taking voice lessons to recover from a lifelong fear of singing in public, and my vocal coach has convinced me to sing in the school's end-of-year show. In the hurly and the burly of rehearsals, memorizing lines, daily vocal practice, and an exhausting bout of business travel, I have let my health and fitness goals vanish into the depths of the North Carolina swamps. Last challenge I got my eating habits back to a little bit better, but I don't think I worked out twice in the whole six weeks. So this is a Keep It Simple, Gemma challenge period. I love GMB workouts and I'm a member of their "Alpha Posse." One of the freebies they have available to the Posse is a movement practice they call "The Daily Battery." I hesitate to call it a workout, because it's not going to move the needle on my strength or mobility or body composition. It's just meant to get me MOVING. That's what I need and what I currently lack. Movement. The DB is pretty simple. It's meant to be done early in the morning, and it's eight movements done for one minute each. So this challenge, the only goal is: Do the Daily Battery daily. Other targets that I am shooting at, but not going to count it as a "fail" if I don't hit them because I am terrible about trying to do too many things at once and giving up early: Eat salad 4x/week Walk 5000 steps/ day (I currently average ~4,200) Start learning a new song for musical theater auditions. I'm torn between The Worst Pies in London from Sweeney Todd, or Some People from Gypsy. I'm currently working on Just Around the Corner from The Addams Family and I'm starting to get comfortable with it, so I'm going to need a new challenge soon. Keep up with the forums - check in at least 3x/week

At the end of the Second Age of Middle Earth, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves marched on Barad Dur and faced off against the armies of Sauron. As the battle neared its climax, the kings of both?men and elves lay dead and the victory for which Sauron had labored for an engine age was at hand. Then suddenly Ilsidur took up his father sword and cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger, leaving him defeated. But not completely His body was destroyed and his tower overthrown, his friends and companions scattered. But he did not give up. The great tower of Barad Dur still had it's foundations. The ring was lost but not destroyed, and his servants were weakened but not destroyed. He still had hope, but it would take time to rebuild. A long time I kind of feel like how I imagine Sauron felt at the end of the Second Age. I have worked for years to reach a point at which I thought things were going well but suddenly with the end of cover restrictions, getting cover and then recovering and recuperating I have lost much of my strength, endurance, and skills. I feel like I am in a worse place than I was years ago, but I still have 2 key things: hope and a solid foundation. I can work with these, but it will take time. For now I am going to focus on only the highest priority: food. My challenge this time has only 1 item: 1. Don't overeat. Stop when full and don't eat when not hungry. Simple but not easy I will work on other things when the chaos around me settles a bit; and that probably won't happen until next challenge.

Flowerbeds are starting to look a little messy - sprawling in places, and in need of a little weeding. But slow progress is progress. Time to dance in the flowers. I have just had my first physio appointment for what I now know is a frozen shoulder. I have a series of exercises that I need to complete 2-3 times per day to speed up my recovery. I've also gotten the all-clear for any activity that doesn't put me above a 4 on the pain scale, doesn't still hurt an hour later, and doesn't hurt more the following day. Excellent! So I have two main focuses for this challenge. First, aim for two sessions of the therapy exercises daily, but at absolute minimum, at least one. No matter what, at least one. Second, find other exercises that I can do. I've held off from most exercise since November now. Anything uncontrolled in the arms could cause sudden and intense pain, and reaching over the head was also very difficult. That may not sound like it is very restrictive if one is not doing pullups or somesuch, but for example, a small arm movement to stay balanced on one foot made me collapse with pain. You don't realize how you use your arms till you can't any more. Now the pain is less, but mobility is far more restricted. So I would like to try a different activity every day to see whether or not I can do them from a pain and range-of-motion point of view. And I have purchased a variety of GMB programs, which should both give me movements to try and ease me back into fear-free motion again. Suggestions are welcome. Today's goal is to figure out a good recipe for habits for these two goals (so that I remember them and work them into my day), and to choose and set up a good space to do the exercises I have been assigned.

I can do a backflip off a 1m diving board pretty comfortably. The goal for this challenge is to get it comfortable on trampoline and/or spring floor. Main quest Do 42 backflips a week on any surface that isn't water. Might adjust the number later.

This time around I could not come up with some nice goals for the 5-week challenge, so I'm starting a battle log. This year I would like to have some more stability than in the last few years, but who knows what will happen. Last year ended not so well with a covid-infection, so January was mostly dedicated to getting back in the game. Now that I'm better again, I have space for other stuff. Some of my goals for this year are: 5 chin-ups in a set (currently at 2) 2x BW deadlift (currently probably around 1.5x) be comfortable in a bridge/wheel pose weight below 62kg (currently 64-65) get rid of the boxes in the attic Realistically, my mental health will go up and down a few times during the year, and the plan is to push when I'm feeling well and maintain when feeling off. I want to try to go to the gym 3 times per week, currently aiming at 2 times body control classes (handbalancing, stuff in rings, etc) and 1 strength training class. On top of that, I want to maintain my bike-commuting and regular walks. Other things I want to do more of: Hiking Eating protein Experiment with vegan food Playing the clarinet Using my bullet journal Coming around here

With a snort and a shake of her head, the dragon stood shakily for the first time in what seemed like eons. Faint puffs of smoke escaped from between her teeth as she grumbled, rising slowly and stretching out each digit in turn, flexing each weary paw, and finally rising up to lean back and extend her spine all the way back like a cat. Whether it had been a thousand years or a single winter, she was awake now. And well, mostly alert. It was time for Aziriel to get back to the business of being a dragon! Hi there! New to the forums and looking to gently challenge myself in the next 5 weeks. I have a shiny new advanced diploma in computer programming, in addition to a fresh diagnosis of ADHD and meds to help with focus, but I need to practice channeling that focus into the things I actually want to do and not into say, putting 19 library books on hold at once, or spending 3 hours intently doom-scrolling. So while I continue the 3 habits I've formed so far and try to keep them up, I also want to work on home projects and on finding a job. My final goal is reading through resources, updating my resume and cover letters, and applying for jobs. Key HABIT - daily thing I want to do or pay attention to. The sleep and read are from the night BEFORE because otherwise I obsess over them, and I take my pill in the morning so that isn't a wait. 1 PT QUEST - weekly thing I want to accomplish, lasts at least 2 weeks. 7 PTS SIDEQUEST - one-off tasks. 3 PTS Habits are sacrosanct, Quests are a priority, SideQuests would be helpful to finish. Week 1 - A Pestilential Dilemma - 2/12 to 2/18 HABIT - sleep between 1am and 9am - ✅✅🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HABIT - take ADHD pill daily - ✅✅🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HABIT - read from 12am to 1am - ✅✅🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩 QUEST - My Paws Are Tide! Part 1/3 - Defeat the Laundry Monster's minions, the Sock Army [All my clothes washed and fully put away. 2 loads probably) After a brief scuffle with a replicating Sock Banshee, the Sock Army has been defeated! [AKA I forgot to put soap in the second load so had to do it again...] QUEST - Practice My Tail Swipe! Part 1/5 - Complete 2 exercise sessions. 1/2 completed Feb 13 - Darebee Foundation Light Day 1 Fast Pace Cardio, 3 sets QUEST - This Cave Is A Mess! Part 1/4? - Strike off at least 5 tasks in my office (of 18) QUEST - The Hunt! Part 1/5 - Gather my resources Read The Job Closer Read/skim Parachute Find AAM resources and read SIDEQUEST - Where'd I Put That Goblet Again? [Fix the banking login] SIDEQUEST - Where's My Signal? [Call ISP and try to get a lower rate] SIDEQUEST - What Day Is It Again? [Buy a pill organizer] - Wednesday? BONUS QUESTS Su - floors 5 (kitchen, vacuum general), general 2 (prep), dishes 3 M - hygiene 5 (shower), general 5 (Dr appt, veggies w dinner, did a hard thing I've been procrastinating), dishes 2, cats 2 (litters, cleaned bowls) Tu W Th F Sa Week 2 - Straighten Up The Lair - 2/19 to 2/25 HABIT - sleep between 1am and 9am HABIT - take ADHD pill daily HABIT - read from 12am to 1am QUEST - My Paws Are Tide! Part 2/3 - Defeat the Laundry Monster's personal guard, the Towel Demons QUEST - Practice My Tail Swipe! Part 2/5 - Complete 2 practice sessions QUEST - This Cave Is A Mess! Part 2/4? - Strike off at least 5 tasks in my office (of 18) QUEST - The Hunt! Part 2/5 - Create the lures. [May take more than this week] Review resume resources Update my resume Get J to edit it Review cover letter resources Update my cover letter template Get J to edit it SIDEQUEST - It's Been HOW Long? [Get up to date on COVID and flu vaccinations. May take more than this week] SIDEQUEST - What Died In This? [Descale my Keurig] Week 3 - Look For Food - 2/26 to 3/4 HABIT - sleep between 1am and 9am HABIT - take ADHD pill daily HABIT - read from 12am to 1am QUEST - My Paws Are Tide! Part 3/3 - Defeat the Laundry Monster itself, the Blanket Fury QUEST - Practice My Tail Swipe! Part 3/5 - Complete 2 practice sessions QUEST - This Cave Is A Mess! Part 3/4? - Finish all tasks in my office (of 18) QUEST - The Hunt! Part 3/5 - Narrow in on my quarry Find 5 promising job sites Start putting in applications [Plan/brainstorm new goals now and for next weeks] SIDEQUEST - Is Something Growing In This? [Clean my keyboard thoroughly, pop off keys] Week 4 - Treasure Hunting - 3/5 to 3/11 HABIT - sleep between 1am and 9am HABIT - take ADHD pill daily HABIT - read from 12am to 1am QUEST - Practice My Tail Swipe! Part 4/5 - Complete 3 practice sessions QUEST - This Cave Is A Mess! Part 4/4? - Strike off at least 5 tasks in my office (of 18) QUEST - The Hunt! Part 4/5 - Further hunting required 1 [Plan from here] SIDEQUEST - There Must Be Something Pretty Here? [Sort through all my framed pictures] SIDEQUEST - Where's My Abacus? [Preliminary research on how to do my own taxes] Week 5 - Rout Out Any Adventurers - 3/12 to 3/18 HABIT - sleep between 1am and 9am HABIT - take ADHD pill daily HABIT - read from 12am to 1am QUEST - Practice My Tail Swipe! Part 5/5 - Complete 3 practice sessions QUEST - The Hunt! Part 5/5 - Further hunting required 2 [Plan from here] SIDEQUEST - That's An Interesting Smell? [Clean the guest bathroom and make a work request to fix sink] SIDEQUEST - Burn It With Fire! [Brute force through any projects/tasks that need it, especially any from this challenge] SIDEQUEST - What Next? [Plan next challenge - taxes, optometrist/therapy insurance, more? Carry over anything here that needs it, re-evaluate Sooner and Later lists] Bonus Quests [Various other things that I would like to do or keep up on. ADHD makes executive functioning and chores very difficult, so any rewards are good here! I'm just tracking points and not the tasks I think.] Cats - clean food bowls, refill food containers, clean or refill water fountain, clean litters, fully clean litters Floors - literally anything. Mop, vacuum spot-clean, sweep... anything. Dishes - empty sink, empty dishwasher, handwash fully Hygiene - shower, wash my face, brush my teeth, weekly laundry General - take out garbage before it's overflowing, take down recycling, refill products, finish a fiction book, bake or cook, fix or do sundry things around the house, prep literally anything, eat veggies/fruit, go to appointments, visit friends... Rewards Weekly outing! Every Wednesday, I take the previous week's points total and can go get a treat/meal in that range. Points for bonus quests roll over, but may only be spent if I completed 80% habits and all QUESTs and SIDEQUESTs for that week. Otherwise I just get the base level? Need to figure out points system...

I made the travel team! I am now officially a member of a WFTDA Charter team! The team name for our B-team is Hazmat Crew. We've maybe got a game on March 12. The A-team (Allstars) definitely has a game, but last I heard it's still up in the air if there's going to be a B-team game or a mash-up scrimmage for new skaters. So, with that in mind, I'm going to continue my challenge from the start of the year, but update it a bit. Focusing on getting in movement every day seems to be working really well for me. I haven't missed a day yet, I'm seeing progress in every area I'd like to see improve (aside from the scale, but whatever. That's in last place for things I care about, even though it's nice to see that go down as well), and I'm eating healthier without having to put too much effort into it (fast food is mostly completely unappetizing, and my "treats" are smaller portions than they used to be). However, for travel team I'm required to get 5 non-practice points a month, and it only counts if it's at least half an hour of exercise. I'm not too worried about getting that, since coaching the juniors alone gets me 12-16 points a month, but it'll still be good if I get points for other exercise, too. All that said, my goal for this challenge is to get at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Currently I've got derby 3 days a week (2x my practices, 1x coaching the juniors), lifting 3 days a week (which will need to be supplemented, because they seem to be taking around 20 minutes right now...probably either some cardio or adding pull-up work), and one day for whatever. I am also adding a non-exercise goal for this challenge - apply for at least 5 jobs outside my current company, and possibly a few inside but with a different organization. I absolutely LOVE what I'm working on (it's a freaking rocket, to take people to the moon!), but I have about reached my limit with the insane bureaucracy and management that doesn't seem to know what they're doing or communicating anything to the people affected by their decisions. Also, Ohio is not great, and they're going to eventually move us anyway, and the more I think about it the less I like the idea of going to Florida (but do still intend to apply for the position there mentioned in my last challenge, because more money and going instead of going with the same amount of money). So, attempting to get back to the west coast it is!

The General Update: My health has been quite poorly the past month, and I have determined the primary culprit to be my new glasses. Something is "off" about the prescription, and I can tolerate looking at a computer or phone screen for less than a minute before the beginnings of a sick headache start to show up. I've got an appointment with my optician tomorrow to see if she can help me get it sorted. Meanwhile I'm wearing my old glasses. They are coming apart at the hinges, but at least they don't make me feel seasick! I had a blast at the audition for Making God Laugh last Saturday. I didn't get the part, which is cool with me because I didn't expect to. As soon as I came home I plunged headfirst into Shakespeare. I've got two weeks to refine my memorized monologue (Mistress Page, Act II Scene I of Merry Wives) and to prepare to read from several selections that Director Phil has provided, before I audition for The Taming of the Shrew. Timing is everything. When you show up at an audition, the sign-in sheet asks you to identify any conflicts that you will have during the production that will stop you from attending every rehearsal. It's not always a dealbreaker to miss one or two, or even more depending on the size of the role. But my boss has decided to send me to California for a week and a half - Feb 23 to Mar 6 - right in the first half of the production. This is probably one factor in why I wasn't cast in Laugh; the role I was reading for is in every scene, so missing any rehearsals is disruptive. (The other, bigger factor is that there were several very talented actors there with me!) So if Director Phil doesn't want to deal with the headache of scheduling rehearsals around the absence of even a minor supporting character, I can't blame him for that. If I was directing I would prefer not to mess about with that either. Not worried about it - I intend to nail this audition whether I have a chance at a role or not, because Shakespeare is bloody FUN! The travel plans got modified on short notice. I was only supposed to be gone for four days for a conference. But the College just hired a new Academics Officer (my 'official' job title) for the Camp Pendleton campus, and the Dean wants me to train her. It is really bad timing for the community theater season, but otherwise I don't mind too much. My dad and stepmom live in Los Angeles and I will get to spend two weekends with them. I don't get to see them nearly often enough. Challenge Goals: Ongoing - Vocal lessons weekly (well, except the Tuesday that I'm out of town, and maybe the one after I've spent all of Monday on airplanes home) 20 minute vocal warm-up and workout every day except airplane days. GMB 3x week - either Elements or Literal Immortality, as the mood strikes me Meditate daily New - Attend at least one session of an online improv class Travel without getting sick; to wit At least one balanced meal, with protein and a vegetable, every day At least 64 oz. water / day, increase to 100 oz. on airplane days Mask on plane, in airports, and otherwise crowded environs I love my job, and I am excited to see my dad, but I really don't like travel. Not sure what happened, I used to love it - now it is exhausting and stressful and I really dislike being away from the Hubs and my doggies. Ah well, this too shall pass. At least I don't have to do it often. I'll try to keep a good attitude about it.