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Happy 2017, everyone! A new year is upon us and I have made a list of my 2017 goals, which you can find on my mostly dormant battle log. I've decided to call 2017 "The Year of Fitness" (yes, capitalization is needed!). That means that fitness will always be my first/main goal for each challenge. Also, a little about me: I found NF in April/May 2016 by reading Steve's book I've been doing challenges since June last year Last year I found a purpose for my life: becoming a nomad, aka go long term traveling. I am still setting this up. I have a house to sell, stuff to cull, things to do, and people to tell. This is generally my second focus/goal of each challenge I'm a writer (fiction) by profession and have two short stories coming out in anthologies in March and May (all the pubs for this year that I know about so far, hoping for more sales!) I'm Swedish, but speak English fluently if that wasn't evident Eeeeh... That is enough. You can find links to my original introduction post and other important forum threads in my signature. Onward to discussing goals and such for this challenge! ~*~*~*~*~*~ The priority shift this challenge is that Studying will take priority over Becoming Nomadic stuff. This is because I have such a mountain of study stuff. My main objective is to work on not getting overwhelmed with the study stuff I have to do. I've had similar work loads in the past and gotten completely burned out by it. I've worked on energy and emotion management since then though and hope I can stay emotionally stable and keep from getting exhausted. Basically I want to skip this stage (ignore the text): Fitness I'll have two goals here. For me, fitness is both movement and nutrition/eating/dieting (as in what I eat, not going on a diet). Main goal is to walk with a step goal each day. I did 4500 steps the last week of the previous challenge, and I will keep with that goal and maybe raise it to 5000 steps during the challenge depending on if I keep my current walking streak of 6 days in a row and hopefully counting. Second goal is to not buy any soda. During Christmas in Sweden, we have this awesome soda called julmust. And while I've mostly quit drinking soda, I've been drinking quite a bit of julmust and I've let myself drink more soda or soda-like (non-alcoholic cider) than I've meant to. But I set the goal as not buying, because I want to finish what I have at home over the next week or so. Basically, not buying means I will not buy any more soda either to take home or at restaurants and I've set a tentative "end" date of my birthday. Not saying I'll suddenly drink soda after that, but if the habit of not buying is established by then, I don't have to keep tracking it. I will have an exception to buying if I find a new interesting one to try. I like trying new things. You might also have noticed I said I won't buy, but nothing about drinking. Basically, I mean that if someone offers me soda and it would be too impolite to say no or just too much trouble to say no, it is alright to drink it. Plus I can finish what I have in my fridge without guilt. Another exception is if I can't get water, not sure this would be the case any time, but I thought I'd mention it. Sometimes I want flavor to what I drink, and in that case I will focus on adding lemon/lime juice to the water (or finishing off what I already have). Occasionally I'll get flavored fizzy water because I want the bubbles. I will also not buy/drink much cider (that is about the only alcohol I buy for myself and even that is rarely) because it is almost like soda. So much writing about the secondary goal, lol. But it needed more explaining. Studying Okay, so here is the list of workshops/courses I will be working on this challenge: Last four stories for upcoming Anthology in-person workshop (Feb/Mar). This means I write and submit one short story per week to a specific theme I learn on Mondays. (I can't talk about the themes or the stories because I don't know if anyone else who is going will read this, part of the rules for the workshop.) Last two weeks of Writing Mysteries online workshop. This means ca 7 videos (ca 5-7 mins) to watch and take notes to per week, plus one assignment. First five weeks of Character Development online workshop (then one last week after this challenge). This means ca 7 videos (ca 5-7 mins) to watch per week, plus one assignment per week. Nourish Yourself course with Kate Marolt (Camp NF headmaster and yoga teacher in NF Yoga). I don't know everything this course entails, so I'll just create objectives as I figure it out. (Btw, you'll notice Kate will pop up quite a bit in my challenges. She's become one of my mentors, teaching me about emotional stability and techniques to feel better. Also, I'm going to her Costa Rica retreat in May this year, because COSTA RICA and KATE and AMY CLOVER (Camp NF headmaster).) So four different workshops/courses I'm working on, all of them have weekly objectives of different kinds. Actually, I think Nourish Yourself will have daily objectives starting on January 8. Basically a lot of different stuff. And this doesn't count the one off stuff I have. I have one of those on Jan 14. Becoming Nomadic So this one is taking a backseat this challenge. Or is it? The last couple of challenges, I've been working more or less daily to advance towards the date when I'm free to go. I've been reading and researching, checking off some to dos and started the ball rolling in some areas. During this challenge I will however start tackling a very important beast. I will start to go through my possessions and choose: sell (if I get off my butt and do it), charity, trash or keep. I need to downsize as small as possible and then probably halve what I try to keep. Basically right now, I'm looking at storing a couple of boxes with my parents (if they agree) and some books (perhaps a box or two) with a friend (she's agreed because I've asked). I also get to keep anything I plan to carry around with me (duh). So I will start this. I expect it to be tough at times. So I've set the goal low. Each day, starting from Week 1, I will take one item and decide what to do with it. This means even if I've forgotten or avoided all day, I can do it right before I sleep. Zero Week will be different though. I have some leftover tasks I want to get done, and I have some prep tasks to tackle the culling/decluttering/clearing/whatever-the-f*ck-to-call-it (yes, I occasionally swear). The culling will be a tough task, at least with some items. ~*~*~*~*~*~ The next post will hold weekly reports. Basically putting my exact objectives for each week and being able to use them for reporting my progress. Also, this challenge will start already in Zero Week, because so much stuff. I will strive to update daily, because I follow through the best then. I'm also striving to add in more gifs and pictures (I like when others do it, so I guess I can too to entertain others). Another striving will be to not only read and like (to show I've read), but actually post more in other people's challenge; it isn't that I haven't been posting, but I want to do more of it.