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Mind Body and Soul I’ve gotten a bit slack with the daily writing and the yoga routines and all the rest. I was feeling disconnected, spent from a very bleak midwinter indeed, and I need to reconnect, especially at the soul level. I’m looking forward to setting down anxiety and fretfulness and worry. I’m looking forward to living in harmony and love, letting the universe be in charge. I’m thinking of this round sort of like a sustained balance pose, like the Eagle or the tree. Or, my favorite, Lord of the Dance, even though this past challenge I considered it a huge success just to do Corpse pose. Let’s see what the Universe has in mind for me, shall we? This spring I’m doing something kind of weird. I’m putting a whole bunch of stuff out into the universe and seeing what comes back. I’ve put out a mountain of energy and intention and effort and invitation in the past three months. Mostly, I’ve heard nothing, except for the occasional faint and distant no. Okay, universe; message received. Apparently the directions I have been looking are not the ones the Universe has in mind for me. But I still don’t know exactly what I am supposed to be doing. This round I’m working with the uncertainty of it all, leaning on the knowledge that I am a powerfully effective person and very capable indeed. If it should all come back that I end up with two master’s degree programs and a full time job and a part time one on top of that, I could probably do it all, frankly, though not for very long. But maybe just long enough to see what I want to keep. I’m crafting this challenge around what I want to be doing regardless of the external validation structures that might come my way. I’m going to highlight the things in my life that are actively positive elements, and I’m going to update on how my focus on them is going. Mind - daily activities Read Spiritual Book Group Book A Testament of Devotion I'll add in other books as they happen. This place is being left as available depending on what happens with the two graduate programs I'm working with. Knit Publish the patterns that I have finished. Finish the Mrs. Who capelet and publish the pattern. Consider the possibilities of a wholesale yarn order Begin Vivian's Daphne Dress Write Pages are due before the colonoscopy on April 25. More pages will be required at the Queens Workshop May 20-26 Then pages will be needed for June and July, too. Body Gym: I have missed the gym, and it has missed me. It's no real surprise that there is a positive feedback loop of negativity when I don't go to the gym because I'm getting depressed. So the answer is: More Gym Time. Weights and walking and swimming are wonderful and have been missing from my world for too long. The Steam room and sauna are definitely needed. Any day with these is a good day. Yoga: I've added in a bit of structure since the yoga has fallen by the wayside. Tuesday Morning Yoga at the Library Wednesday Evening Yoga at the Mansion Friday Morning Yoga at the Library Soul - This is the area of greatest need, and fortunately is the one that has the most activity scheduled. These are the ways of the universe, in which there are no coincidences. Monday Evening meeting Sunday Friends Monthly Spiritual Formation Meeting - date tbd for May Monthly Women’s Wisdom Meeting April 18 & May 16 Semi-annual Spiritual Retreat May 4-6 Annual Friends Blue Ridge Gathering April 29

Considering that my user name is a Doctor Who reference, and that it is one of my most intense nerdoms (I’ve seen almost every episode of the old doctors 1-8 from 1963 and on, even sat through some horrible animated and audio recovered versions of the “lost” episodes) I was shocked to realize that I’ve somehow never done a full up Doctor Who challenge since I joined in 2013?! I think I subconsciously wasn’t ready to do something so close to my heart and have the chance to screw it up, so a few times I’ve considered it and said to myself “next challenge” or “oh I’ll have to put more thought into that before going forward with it”. Well you know what? It’s time. After a couple of taking-it-easy challenges ramping back up from taking a while off last year for my wedding planning, wedding itself, and honey moon, I’m ready. Last challenge was the most successful I’ve had in a really long time, and I have recently discovered a new love (ballroom dance) and started really diving into it, and am ready to ramp it up to full gear. I’ve got my sonic and I’m ready to travel time and space and get. shit. done. So as still not to dive in too quickly, because I've learned my lesson there, I’ll be ramping up my goals all through the challenge, each week I will face off against a new Doctor Who enemy alongside a different regeneration of the Doctor. By the end of the five weeks (I’m starting this week in zero week!) I’ll be all up to speed in All The Things. Well, not all the things because I’ll still be focusing on dance and lifting (continuing to suppress the Ranger Brain and not add other things in like a nut job) but I’ll be diving in HARD. I’m also going to go back to lifting 3x/week and give up doing barre once a week. I wanted to do it to get posture work in, but I’ll just add in more core-type accessories to my lifting days instead. I miss it too much. So without further ado, I present Raxie’s Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Challenge!

I was a bit late for the last one so I just skipped it while I dealt with some other stuff. Slowly I've been pulling myself out of a sort of funk (#depression) and I'm ready to start going after this again. My work schedule changed so that took some getting used to and i'm ready to start chasing my goals again. Challenges: Go to the GYM at least 2x a week!! So I got signed up but I have to get a habit/schedule going. I'm going to be following this plan from bodybuilding.com so I have an idea of what to do at the gym lol. Stay under 1462 calories 6x a week I followed a formula to get this number for how many calories I need to eat while on like a 20% deficit or something. I'll be monitoring this on myfitnesspal ( y'all can follow me there, I'm RoachRex ). And the 7th day is cheat day! (saturday is my cheat day). I am starting to learn about macros but tracking is a pain so I think I'll stick with this version for the time being. Level up in cooking! I want to learn how to use spices not just in frying but in the other ways that I cook as well. Additionally, at least ONCE this challenge I want to bake a loaf of bread!! Get outside! I've got some gear together so I really want to go camping!! But if I can't go camping, then at least I want to go on a day hike!! Weather may not permit me to go camping (I live in socal and our wild places are kind of a little bit on fire) but in that case then I'll try to at minimum go for a hike in a local park or botanical garden or something. Ideally more than once but, we'll see.

I'm continuing my studies at Hogwarts, with many of the same themes. Hopefully, this time I don't pull a 3rd year Hermione and bite off more than I can chew. New Classes: Herbology: Goal is one new cooking recipe each week. Also, evening snack must include a veggie. I'm hoping to reduce and make my snacking healthier, and add a little bit more excitement to my diet. Arithmancy: Goal: Complete the entire 3rd problem set 8 problems selected from the 3rd problem set on cryptopals.com or from projecteuler.net (difficulty rating must be 40% or higher). Complete at least 3 more chapters in my crypto book, along with the corresponding problem sets. History of Magic: This is where I'm putting my sleep goal. Sleep has been terrible lately, so I'm going to revisit some tried and true methods of improving my sleep. Drink tea and stop eating at 9:00. Reading only after 10:00. And, here's the meat of my challenge: I'm joining the Quidditch team, and I'm determined to win the Quidditch cup. Quidditch is largely going to represent my (flying) goals of parkour and now silks classes. I'm also going to gain points for any supplemental activities that support parkour or silks. Gryffindor (courage): + 10 points for every new flow or new thing attempted at parkour. +10 points for doing anything at the parkour gym that scares me. + 10 points for doing anything at a greater height than I normally would. Ravenclaw (intelligence): + 10 points for drilling down into techniques at parkour or silks class. + 20 points for any home reviews of technique. Hufflepuff (kindness (to my body)): + 20 points for any yoga or mobility work. I'm not flexible, and it's hurting my performance at the parkour gym. Slytherin (nastiness): + 20 points for strength workouts. The goal is to net 200 points in each, and see which house wins the cup!

Hooray we have made it to 2018!! I am pretty excited. The last year was a year full of ups and downs for me, but overall it was just horribly busy. Busy in both good ways and bad, but just when I look back at the year it just seems like a whirl wind of emotion and stress. I really lost track of my goals and a bit of the fun-loving, motivated person I have grown into over the past few years. This is the first year in YEARS that I don't already have 100 things planned, I can actually look at my calendar and it isn't CRAMMED full of things every single weekend. I am so beyond excited about this. I want to take this year to breathe - settle back into my habits that kind of got lost along the way, and reclaim myself, my time, and really focus on me. The last challenge was kind of a mental cleanse for me, I abandoned a lot of the side fitness projects I had been trying to do and overwhelming myself with. I really like what I ended up with, while I still want to pursue archery, OCRs, rucking, boxing, and gymnastics... I needed to break it down to the top couple of things to really focus on and I am really glad I did. I am going to continue with that for this challenge, but instead of focusing on the Rangerbrain decluttering portion of it, I am going to focus on really diving deep into those couple of things I have chosen to focus on. Those things are lifting, dancing, and food. The goals are below. Passing is meeting my goals 100% of the time for all 5 weeks. Variances are already worked into each goal so this isn't unreasonable. Fitness Goal 1: Pick Things Up and Put Them Down I did really well with reducing my lifting days to twice a week from three times a week and I'm going to keep on with that. Stronglifts 2x/week Variance: Can shift a workout to the next week and do 3x/week as a make up ONCE this challenge Fitness Goal 2: Dance Dance Dance I completely fell in love with ballroom dancing last year while learning our first dance for my wedding and I want to really focus on it. I did ballet for 15 years when I was younger, and I'm eyeing a ballet studio that I might hit up for adult classes when I work up the courage. If I don't, that's OK, I'll do online barre classes in my room. Either way I need to do stuff to work on my posture. Dance Class 3x/week Barre or ballet 1x/week Variance: Can do a quick 10-minute pilates workout instead of barre ONCE this challenge. Fitness Goal 3: Recovery ROMWOD (Range of Motion Workout of the Day) has done wonders for me, and I picked up with it regularly again last challenge and I want to stick with it. I'm going to try to start doing it in the morning instead of before bed and see how that works for me, since I really miss my morning yoga practice but I don't want to add anything extra to my plate. ROMWOD 5x/week Variance: ROMWOD Warrior (a once a week twice as long WOD) can count as 2 sessions once a week as a make up TWICE this challenge Food Goal: Eat Clean My definition of clean isn't quite paleo or gluten free, but I know it works for me. Last challenge I took it easy and just wanted to not eat like an a-hole through the holidays... which aside from one holiday and pet-loss induced binge session I did really well. I'm ready to drill this down to be more specific. Here are my rules: No added sugar to recipes or beverages Gluten-free-ish. Whole grains are OK (and not like bread, like actual whole grains I can see and pick up, like farro or wheat berries) and this is limited to once a week. No cheese or milk. Dairy is OK in the form of ghee and sometimes butter in cooking. Eat out only once a week Drink alcohol once a week, and only up to three drinks are allowed that night. Try to stick to wine and cider, one of the three drinks can be beer only. Variance on sugar and cheese is allowed once a week (probably will co-align with eating out but it doesn't have to) Life Goal: Laundry & Decluttering I've been so busy my apartment has become my dumping grounds as opposed to my sanctuary. This needs to change. 15 minutes of decluttering per day 5x/week Laundry twice a week and put away clothes within 24 hours of washing them. Variance: Can skip TWO declutter sessions throughout the challenge. Laundry can be done less if it isn't needed.

So I'm sick... again... If anyone remembers from last challenge I go stupidly ill and wasn't able to do much of anything gym wise since I couldn't stop coughing and I'm also just not a jackass and I stay home when I'm sick. Nobody needs whatever plague can ever get through my usually killer immune system. I got over that bug and then a week later landed a new one! I was rocking a brutal fever and full body pain for 5 straight days. And I actually had to go to work on all of those days because my boss was away and there isn't anyone at work who can step in for me at all ever. It sucks, but anyhow... I'm also sick and tired of how my life currently is and I'm going to change that. I'm going to write out a list of all the things I'm annoyed with in my life and I'm going to tackle them all one by one starting with these five things. Money Management: I've got about $10000 of debt that I've been very, very slowly and erratically chipping away at and I'm sick of the sight of the giant negative balance I see when I log into my online banking. I'm going to change this. I need to change this. I've been a terrible adult and have been late in paying my rent and my phone bill each month for longer than I can reasonably remember. I've been rock solid in paying my gym fees and making sure I had bus pass funds available when I needed them all of last year, but rent and the phone bill always got put off. I'm going to be challenging myself to have my share of the rent paid in full by the 4th of each month (can't pay rent on weekends, holidays or when I'm stuck at work from before they open until after they close) And my phone bill will be paid in full within 8 hours of it being sent to me. No excuses. In regards to spending. I want to enact a shopping ban, similar to what @pureleeawesome is doing and only spend money on daily necessities or things that are on an approved buying list As for debt and savings, I will be putting $100 towards each on the day I get paid. And if when I get paid again I have money left over from the previous pay cheque that is not needed for an immediate and important reason (vet bill, replacing things like my work shoes, glasses etc) I'm going to divide that amount by 3 and 1/3 is for savings and 2/3 is going onto the debt. Cooking: This is slightly linked to the money stuff because I spend far too much on shitty fast food and convenience foods that it's getting totally out of hand. We order in pizza at least three times a month, and get cheap take out about once a week and there is no reason for it other than being totally lazy. The worst part is that I don't even really enjoy the food we buy most of the time. I might as well just throw the money off my balcony for all the good is does me. In an effort to stop throwing my money away I plan on cooking all my own food at home. I want to see less empty pop bottles in my recycling bin and more sauce jars. I want to see less crumpled up fast food wrappings in my trash bin and more meat/veggies scraps. If my lovely girlfriend wants to order pizza, she can get it with her own money and I will say thanks, but no thanks and go make myself some real food. I'm making 3 reasonably exceptions to this plan: I can get iced caps from Tim's with ONLY my tips money (I make so little in tips that I think that's fair) I can get garlic bread if my girlfriend or my sister orders pizza, but ONLY once per month I can eat the food at work, because I'm trying to get out of debt, and food at work is free. Gym: I need to go at least once a week for winter. I'm not going to demand more than that for gym trips each week because the walk there and back in winter conditions is shitty at best, and hazardous at worst. That and with the New Year's crowd in there it's honestly not very much fun to go in January and February. But I still need to go. I'm paying for it and it's a waste of money not to go. I will allow myself a tiny reward if I do go more than once a week. I get to buy a hot chocolate brownie from my local Mucho Burrito on the way home on my 2nd trip of the week. I will treat myself for a personal sized chocolate milk on the 3rd trip. Chores: My home is a disgusting place to live in right now. I'm not the only person responsible for the mess but I am likely to be the only person who does anything about it. I'm also sick and tired of nagging everyone around me to do their damn chores all the time so I'm just going to do them myself. I almost want to unleash my inner passive aggressive bitch and post up one of those time check off pages on the bathroom door and above the kitchen sink and beside the recycling bin listing when it was last taken care of and by who. My sister has the habit of leaving her bagged garbage in the kitchen in front of the recycling bin because she doesn't want to get dressed to walk it down the hall to the trash chute. Hell she doesn't even do her own laundry, she gets out room mate Jordan to do it. I almost want to start piling it up on top of her work shoes the next time she does this. It takes literally 1 minute to walk down the hall, open the door, step in, open the chute, throw the bag down, and walk back to our unit and yet she can't be bothered to do it. She could leave literally ONE MINUTE early for work and take her trash with her but she doesn't. She hasn't taken out the recycling ever. We've lived in this building since 2011 and she's never taken out the recycling. So I'm giving myself one small chore to do each day, something that only takes 5-10 minutes to do Chore Chart Knitting: It's simply something that I enjoy doing, and frankly I need to do it since my yarn collection is getting out of hand, and I also don't have a hat or scarf for myselg for this winter. My old hats were covered in an impossible amount of cat hair and our recently deceased cat Jazz spent a great deal of time snuggled into my favourite hand made hat that it smelled horrid so I threw it away. I want to finish the hat I started for myself and start a scarf and finish it before the challenge is finished. I'll post up a photo when it's done

Priorities Last weekend's sermon was about saying no to good things to make space for great things. There are so many ways I want more of this theme in my life -- in our house (as we slowly buy home items to make it somewhere I feel pleased inviting people into, but also purge), in my day (staying an extra half hour or hour unpaid at work, watching too much TV), in my diet (too much wine and sweets). I've lost my meditation habit, and I miss it. I have time in the morning, but this month I shouldn't need to be at work particularly early - so I can get back to a good morning routine without waking up earlier. Goal #1 The Perfect Morning Obviously not every morning can or will be 'perfect', but I've always had this routine in my mind: Meditation Prayer Short to-do list Eat breakfast Half the time I drag my feet so much I don't get to early, but still haven't done anything worthwhile with my morning. When my alarm goes off at 5:30, I will say no to random internet reading (or even reading my current book), pressing snooze, and leaving for work early. Goal #2 Workouts I am tempted by the Spartan Stadium plan, but not sure I want to start it when I know I'll have to interrupt for vacation. So for now this means workout 5x/week. Spin, run, yoga, spartan workouts, made-up gym circuits all count. As the weather gets iffy and cold I need this more than ever. I will say no to social engagements if needed to make time to work out. I will also not watch TV by myself (sports/movies with fiance are allowed AFTER my workout). I will say yes to workouts that sound fun, even if they cost money, especially if someone else will join me. Goal #3 Track Every Bite Here or in my battle log, along with how I feel. I will say no to wine in the evenings, endless-unaccounted-for carbs and sweets, and eating when I am not hungry. Thanksgiving Recap Last week was ugly nutrition-wise. I was at my future in-laws, and even though they are wonderful it was draining for me trying to make a good impression, and make frequent conversation. I coped with the stress with food. I felt constrained diet-wise by being in someone else's house, but I still could have made much better decisions. The discomfort of not being in my own space combined with forcing myself to talk to parents/family/friends was so much ugh. But especially as fiance's dad is elderly, we will likely be visiting them more frequently in the future -- this is very important to fiance, as my parents are practically next door but we are not able to see his parents very often (a couple hour flight, or 12 hour drive). I want to support him in this but find that I resent spending vacation time to take trips that are not restful. On the flip side, I ran/walked 3/4 days that we were there. And the morning after getting back, I showed up to spin class. I know the workouts aren't enough to offset my eating, but it's nice to have something positive to report. More than anything it was a chance to escape and have some "me time". Update on the Feels Aside from the stress and anxiety of Thanksgiving, I have generally been feeling a bit better over the past couple weeks. Less episodes of wanting to lie on the floor forever. Can't say why, but I'll take it while it lasts.

Tiggs86 Zion Spark Hello all! It's been a LONG time since I've done a 4 week challenge. I recently came back from a camping trip in Zion, am all full of motivation, and figured I'd try the challenges again. Vacation Stats: Sunday: Angels Landing and Emerald pools- 12.06 miles, 92 floors Monday: Narrows- approximately 15miles, unknown floors* Tuesday: Subway- approximately 12.9 miles, unknown floors* Wednesday: Hidden Canyon, Weeping Rock, Court of the Patriarchs- 7.28 miles, 89 floors Thursday: Canyon Overlook, Paru's Trail- 8.86 miles, 16 floors Friday: Observation Point- 13.42 miles, 184 floors. *Monday and Tuesday based off a friend's watch as there were hikes involving water and my tracker doesn't play well with water. Totals: 69.52miles, minimum of 381 floors up (likely closer to 500). My Goals this challenge: (edited 10/29) #1 Yoga 3x per week Dirty Yoga for beginners (not so much a workout, but tutorial) #2 Stairs 3x per week I work at three different buildings one with 10 floors, one with 7, and one with 22 floors. I don't currently have a specific plan. Go up until I huff and puff then go back down for now, I can comfortably do 3 floors (as in I can catch my breath decently quickly after quickly going up 3 flights of stairs.) #3 Eat supper at home four times per week. Before vacation I fell into a bad habit of eating out ALL the time. #4 Wash face in the morning 4x per week. I've switched up my skin care routine so now I am going to be washing my face twice per day. (Angels on Bare Skin in the AM, Fresh Farmacy in the PM). I've never really washed my face in the morning. #5 Spend 5 hours per week working on Christmas stocking. I realize 4 challenges is recommended but I also need to get my 2nd cousins Christmas stocking done before Thanksgiving and thought this may help. Both images are the view of The Watchman from our campsite. I'm the one on the right.

Main Quest: Resilient and Radiant Hi everybody! My name is Annyshay. I'm an assassin adventurer from Hyrule. I've been wandering these wilds for quite some time now, but there's always more to practice and learn. I am committed to recovery (anxiety, depression, disordered eating, etc) in order to seek adventure and inspire others to rise up. Feel free to check out my battle log if you'd like more backstory and/or nitty-gritty details. Last challenge went really well. Let's not mess with it too much, aye? (Remember Steve's article? We are Groot.) In order to collect an ingredient, Annyshay must complete one session or at least 5 minutes of one of the following activities... Mighty Bananas = body weight movement Endura Carrot = active recovery Raw Prime Meat = meal prep Hyrule Herb = homemade food Hearty Radish = intentional time in the Wild Staminoka Bass = breathe Fresh Milk = cold showers Bonus Ingredients (Varies) = anything I deem "Worth It" Sound good? Let's get cooking!!!

It should be obvious what the theme is this challenge. I'll be working on four goals, plus writing story. The story portions will have their own posts. I'm planning on six parts, one at the end of each week, plus the opening. This time I'm starting the challenge at the beginning of zero week. AKA, today! Goal #1: Poké Chef! Cook one *new* family meal a week. Goal #2: Catch that pokémon! Work on job hunt four times each week. If I get the job I interviewed for last week, replace job hunt with study. Goal #3: Walk, walk, and walk some more! Walk 25 miles (40 km) each week. Goal #4: Wake-up Slap! Follow the morning routine five times a week. Meditate -> Daily Dare -> Bullet Journal -> Nerd Fitness

Hi everybody! My name is Annyshay. I'm an assassin adventurer from Hyrule. I've been wandering these wilds for quite some time now, but there's always more to practice and learn. I am committed to recovery (anxiety, depression, disordered eating, etc) in order to seek adventure and inspire others to rise up. Feel free to check out my battle log if you'd like more backstory and/or nitty-gritty details. Main Quest: Resilient and Radiant This challenge, I'm going to return to Zelda-dom for further inspiration. If you've managed to miss it somehow, I'm currently completely engrossed by Breath of the Wild. There's five billion ways that I could pattern my challenge on this game, but I'm going to stick to a relatively small part of the awesomeness in an area that I'm addressing IRL. Hopefully this will minimize spoilers. Idea shamelessly borrowed (heck, we're assassins here...) stolen from @Akura. I'll be collecting ingredients (goals) and using them to cook up some excellent meals (weekly summaries). I'll detail goals below, but I totally reserve the right to add bonus ingredients based on other awesome feets of recovery, cooking, or general badassery. Let's get cooking. For the Rebellion!!!

As a kid growing up I don't remember eating a vegetable that wasn't a potato, corn, or out of a can. French style green beans.... /shudder. So as an adult I really haven't gotten much better. I cook mostly with carrots, potatoes, celery, green peppers, and on occasion some broccoli. Most vegetables are a foreign object to me. fruit too. Throw in the curve ball of having to self-teach myself cooking. Again nothing we ate was home made. Except for this stuff my mom called FOOd which was whatever leftovers we had in the fridge dumped in a pot and smothered with tomato soup. That is my full extent of childhood cooking till we met my step dad. then it was pork chops, steaks, maybe chicken with said canned veg. So fire up the google because I'm starting at lvl one! Goals! 1. Eat more veggies! -Try every vegetable in the grocery. (probably won't get them all but aim for half) -cook them 3 ways. 2. No added sugar. (with one reasonable treat a week) -no liquid calories. -No candy/desserts -Look at all the labels and find stuff with lowest sugar counts. 3. lower cars (because bread is life) -Low carb whole wheat options. -keep carbs to x3 a week -find alternatives for meals I love that have bread. ---bonus quest: figure out the difference between good/bad carbs. WTH banana with all your carbs. start date: 8/24/17 Well, I've already tried roasting asparagus, squash, broccoli, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, and green peppers. Asparagus and squash were a failure I think I didn't cook them right. Seriously where have sheet pan dinners been all my life?!

Hello, all! I'm not the best at introductions, but I thought I could spend forever lurking and reading, trying to figure out how to join... or just jump in with both feet. I used to be really fitness/diet-oriented... maybe a little too much, maybe a little too extreme. It consumed my whole life, to where there wasn't much room for anything else. Eventually, I wanted to let loose a little more, I started really focusing on my career, joined in an amazing and supportive relationship... but for the past two years, fitness and healthy eating has slowly been slipping to the point where I trick myself into thinking it's still a part of my life. But in reality, it's been months since I've exercised, I've been eating indulgent food constantly (and my ever-climbing weight reflects that), and I've been feeling stuck and sluggish. It's time to have a hard talk with myself and go for a reboot! There's got to be a good middle ground I can strike here; it shouldn't be all or nothing. I'm not sure what part of my health I should try to tackle first... I tend to try to change too much too fast, get overwhelmed, panic, and roll back past square one. I was thinking maybe dialing down my diet first, and I say "dialing down" because I love to cook. I love to try new recipes; the more complicated and impressive, the better. But healthy? Not a high consideration. I feel like that's a good place to start, but it'll take some deep breathing and gentle reminders to keep it simple. I mean, making roasted veggies can be as fun as making a vegetable galette with herbed vegan 'crème fraîche' and fried squash blossoms, right? ... Right? I think I just need to shift my mindset to be a little more self-care oriented, but it's tough. Or maybe I need to get an exercise routine down first? Anyways, I'm here to make friends and play nice; I know it's much better not to do this alone, and I'd love to meet and support some folks on a similar path! For NF itself, is the best thing to do to join a Challenge? Start a Battle Log? All suggestions are happily welcome, and it's nice to meet you, in advance!

The last month or so, I've been overwhelmed by the darkness. I huddled in a corner as it closed in around me, a terrifying, paralyzing, suffocating force. It was all I could do to get out the door and show up at work, let alone find energy to cook healthy food or work out. Even knowing it was a downward spiral, I couldn't muster the will to make better choices. I wallowed in the mindless momentary comforts of TV and junk food. Many moments I wanted to scream (but didn't, because that might freak out my coworkers). Many moments I wanted to cry (and sometimes did). But I'm tired of giving in to the desire to curl up in the fetal position on the floor (usually mentally, but occasionally physically). I know that deciding to fight is not in itself an action. I know that there will be tough, dark days ahead no matter how hard I try. But I'm here, and that's a start. I went for a run/walk this morning, and that's a step in the right direction. My overarching goal has always been to lose weight and reach a certain body fat percentage. But right now my goal is just to feel better, more like myself again. How's that for a not-SMART goal? Goal #1: Move 6x/week I need those endorphins. The activities I enjoy (swimming, lifting, running, tennis, climbing, Spartan workouts, biking...) are the arrows in my quiver. Goal #2: Yoga 3x/week All the mind-body wellness. Yoga is the flexibility to bend instead of breaking. Goal #3: Cook most meals AKA don't eat popcorn for dinner. I care more about feeding my fiance healthy food than I do myself. Healthy eating is the staff which I frequently drop, and am still learning to use. But when I wield it effectively it is both attack and defense. Goal #4: Wake early, Meditate daily I've been off and on with meditation over the past few months but mostly on. Meditation is my force-field shield. Similar goals as previous challenges, but a new purpose. As a side note, I have an appointment with my therapist coming up, so I'm not doing it alone. The last week has been especially rough because fiance was out of town -- I hadn't appreciated just how much I rely on his snuggles to overcome my gloom. I've missed you guys, and I'm hoping to rejoin the Ranger Army and finish this challenge strong.

Last time things got derailed p badly. My car was in the shop for eternity and life just keeps dishin. Ive been trying to keep busy. I was gonna do a theme but i couldn't think of anything lol. So my quests are p much the same as last time except for the project one. It just kinda kept me in a scatter so I'm changing it up. Goals 1. Surf 1x/wk 2. Pushups every other day. 3. Cook 1x/wk 4. Start YT channel. Most of these are self-explanatory. For the YT channel one tho basically i need to make and post at least 1 video by the end of this challenge. Bonus points for more vids. But we'll see haha. Wish me luck!

My husband and I just moved to Madison, WI for work. Would love to meet some other Nerd Fitness members!

I considered just taking another break from NF for this challenge, since I'm really busy and will be on vacation for the last week and a half. But, it's better for me to be present in whatever capacity that I can than it is for the whole thing to be out-of-sight, out-of-mind. The theme this time will be figuring out my priorities and sticking with them. For the last many months, a huge problem for me is that I'm not making the time to take care of things that ought to be priorities, and then all of those things just slip through the cracks. Priority 1: Taking care of fitness - I'll be getting at least one decent workout per week at parkour class. But it has been entirely too easy to let the rest of the week fall through the cracks. I want to continue improving at parkour, which means I need more jumping power and more pulling power. My back has been funky these days too, and I've been entirely too lax with the prehab. The goal is to give myself at least 20 minutes each day to do something fitness-wise. And also, at least twice per week, do pull ups in volume, chair one legged squats, split squats, calf raises, and some sort of jump (squat jumps, box jumps, whatever). Priority 2: Cooking & Cleaning - 15 minutes per day of cleaning, no excuses. I'll set a timer and do what I can. Also, I need to batch cook at least one meal each week, so I can eat something healthy without needing to devote excessive time to cooking. Priority 3: Family - Continue helping my daughter with her science olympiad stuff. Also, I'm going to make a point of not blowing off my kids when they want to play games with me. Yeah, if I'm truly busy, the kids can deal, but if it's more that I just would rather be doing something else, I'm going to make a point of being more involved with them. And that's it. Short and sweet for once.

Still working on getting the habits and routines into place that will help me reach my goals. Thus, what is possibly the least exciting challenge ever... My only recourse is to spice up my thread with quokkas. Goal #1: Daily Morning Routine 5AM wakeup (7AM weekends) Meditate (preferably at least 10min) with Calm app Journal/pray Mobility? Sun salutations? Pack breakfast and lunch (weekdays) Goal #2: Daily Evening Routine Get connected NF, post on my thread +2 others At least one row of my current afghan project Throw away or to-donate 5 items Chores 15min Update bullet journal Read in bed Bed by 9pm Lights off 9:30pm Goal #3: Get a handle on the eating thing Limit alcohol to 1 day/week Decide on and implement a plan for variances, specifically free food/drink work events - doesn't have to work, just have to try something Meal prep on weekends: breakfast protein, lunch protein, 2 veggies "Get connected" is to offset my introvert homebody tendencies. Meeting anybody for anything counts. Going out with fiance counts (if it feels like a date....the grocery store doesn't count lol). Setting up a future date counts. Sending a spontaneous text/letter/email to a friend or family member counts. Basically, any action to engage with people other than hanging out with fiance at home counts. Shockingly enough, I'm actually working out consistently these days. Currently working on completing the 'Intense challenge', which is 10 spin classes in 21 days - to earn a free month of spin. After that free month is up I'll probably shift gears (he. hehe.). As the weather warms up, would like to do more running and Spartan WO's. So I'm not making an exercise-related challenge goal because...it's happening anyways. In 5 weeks, I will be headed to Maui for vacation! Terrifyingly, I will be with my slimmer sisters in bikini-land. Ideally I would be able to just be confident and not compare but, *sigh* I am only human. My anxiety is mostly overwhelmed by excitement for beaches and warmth and freedom and pineapple. I will load up my Kindle and prepare for major relaxation mixed with active fun (hiking, snorkeling, possible surfing lesson). 5 full days in paradise (bookended by a day of travel on either end), here I come!

Last month I made a map to my goals: I started on my journey last month and kind of wandered into the woods, so didn't make it too far down the path (about a 57% completion rate). So here's where I am on my current journey: - I work with a PT at the moment, so I have two sessions per week handled, and I focus on getting to two other workouts during the week as well. Upping reps and such forth. - We tried 1800 calories, and that was too much, so I'm currently working at a 1700 to see how it goes. I went up in weight and measurements a little, and that's not awful but I gotta keep that in check. - I started Japanese classes last month, so I need to find time to study at least once a week. - I'm trying to stay off Facebook quite so much. It's easy for me to lose an hour at a time when I could be doing something more productive. I have a couple areas I want to focus on for this chapter: Theme A: Work on that debt! We have a goal to reduce our credit card debt to 0 by May. I'm tackling it with two challenges this month. Theme B: Time Management Organization and Prioritization, both at work and at home. I have a bad case of Ranger!Brain and I need to work on not stressing myself out with it. Looking for signs of hazards ahead: VALENTINE'S DAY. I don't know what we're doing, but the potential for the Melting Pot is real and dangerous sometime within the month. A convention that I'm NOT working at - shouldn't be too bad, I'm pretty good at getting food I can have or bringing snacks. Drinking may happen though. And prepping for that convention will need to be arranged, which I'm not always great at, thought this is a casual event, so not too big of a deal. A convention that I'm the ASSISTANT CHAIRMAN for is 3/10-3/11. We have a banquet which should be the only real eating danger. The first week of the month is normally super busy (running a comic creator group and some months showing our card game to sell at a local event). When I also have chiropractor this week it gets hectic, but March looks like it'll be okay. Otherwise I have a Monday tabletop game, and we have one session of Dresden files tabletop that I need to finish character creation for. These eat into my "productive" time. Challenge 1: CAMPFIRE COOKING! Guys, I am super bad at cooking at home. So I'll work on that this month. This will also help me keep nutrition under better control too! +10 points for each time I eat a meal at home. This includes leftovers, even if they were from going out. Normal breakfast won't count, since it's a protein shake I don't prepare I can track this using Habitica habits. Challenge 2: YES THAT ARMOR IS SHINY, BUT... I don't think my spending is too bad, but I notice I have spending waves - I'll go for a while without buying much of anything, but if I buy one thing it'll cascade for a little bit. So to save money, I'm going to really focus on only buying items that are necessary, or at the very least justified for something specific (see: convention). -10 points each time I buy a frivolous thing. +10 points if I really want something and don't buy it. I can track this using Habitica habits. Challenge 3: PREPARE FOR THE FESTIVAL! Since the con is at the end of the challenge, I need to focus on deadlines and getting things in order before the convention. I'm effectively the communications for the con, so things like the website and programming book are in my bucket. Step 1: Get timeline together Step 2: Do things! Step 3: Don't miss deadlines! Points determined after timeline, which will be 20 points to start. Edit: POINTS +20 for badge creation +20 for prepping for my panel +20 for video editing (also should be done tomorrow) +10 for Workshop prep +10 if I make stickers +10 for newsletters +10 for assistant chairman duties -10 points if a deadline is missed To-Do lists are my nemesis because anything added won't get done, but I need to make sure I'm organized for the con, so will use Habitica To-Do Challenge 4: HELP YOURSELF TO HELP OTHERS! I'll be prone to stress with the convention, and I'm really bad about overscheduling. Also I have a squished femoral nerve, so my knee is a little numb. Not dangerous, but I need to work on getting it better. +5 point Getting 7.5+ hours sleep (tracking with Garmin) +5 points thinking time (with myself or talking with husband) +5 points playing with kitties +5 stretching my leg +10 points for a walk +10 points for yoga +10 taking initiative on getting something done -5 points facebook binging -5 points for overscheduling Tracking in habits in Habitica UPDATE: Ranger Mini Challenge! I'm in on the ranger mini, but in a mini way: Strength: Increase 1 PR this week Ranger: Draw something this week Distance: Take a walk this week Recovery: Yoga this week

So, not gonna lie, 2016 was not my year. I had a lot of health problems and I was recovering from the worst depressive episode I've had in almost 15 years. I still have my struggles, but I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on things. My tight budget and getting kicked off my food stamps has forced me to do a lot more cooking at home, so I continue to slowly lose weight. And I'm starting up the habit of using my kettlebell I bought last year to do swings and TGUs in my room in the morning. Beyond that, I'm putting some real steam into my performing career now. I've settled on a decent niche for myself as a thinking nerd's performer, couching my demonstrations heavily in real science and a humanist perspective. This is partly done by making my focus this year on muscle reading. Between that and the expanded ghost tours, I may be able to finally pick myself up out of dire financial straits this year.

Hi Nerd Fitness, Well, I suppose it should read, ‘Hello Again NF!’ I left a few years ago, when life threw a few speedballs that had me thrown to the ground, crying, and lamenting the losses of my physical abilities. Most especially, I lost my ability to run. So, no more trail runs and working toward a good 5k time result. I also lost the ability to do Olympic lifts like deadlifts, squats, and presses. With these major changes came the depression and anxiety that kept me in a dark and hopeless place. I gained back 65 of the 96 pounds that I lost during my past challenges, between Feb 2013 and June 2015. I turned 50 years old with a new and worsened set of physical limitations. I have degenerative disc disease which includes: osteoarthritis throughout my spine and SI joints (along with my hands), one bulging disc, and mild to moderate facet disease in my neck, low back, and some in my mid-back spine. I am left with a small ability list. As I’m sure you can imagine ‘complaining’ and ‘giving up’ came easily with these physical changes. I find myself at a crossroads today. I can give up on trying to maintain the positive changes that I’ve been working on for the last year or so. I can continue to rely on ‘woe is me’ and ‘I can’t do ANY of that anymore.’ Or… as I am working on now, thankfully, is attempting to juggle the priorities in my life. I want to be consistent with my: at-home physical therapy routine, cooking at home, limiting sugar junk food intake, and creating art for expression, healing, and sharing. To succeed on my journey, I want to use all the avenues available and known to me. Hence, coming back to Nerd Fitness is essential to my journey. So, Hi NF!! I’m Back!! Cheers, Terinatum

Nothing new or unusual to see here, but I have pretty clear motivation to keep my eating and working out on track this month. I completely dropped off the last challenge, *sigh*. Would like to document my efforts this month, despite joining three days late I've been working on these things this month. I may or may not continue adding Brooklyn 9-9 gifs despite lack of relevancy. Overarching Quest: 25% Body Fat Haven't made a lot of progress with this, my weight drifted upwards in Q4 of 2016. But doing the W30 is a good re-start. Mission #1: Complete the Whole30 Started this January 3rd, happily bf is doing it with me this round! So the surfeit of cooking labor is alleviated by his assistance, specifically with dishwashing. I'll put in another post on how it's going so far. The biggest challenge is going to be our trip to Cali for the Spartan sprint... Mission #2: Train for and complete Spartan Sprint After the marathon last year, November and December were spent recuperating and doing a lot of yoga. I'm getting back into the gym, in preparation for our race January 29th. I was dumb last week and overdid it, inducing a little tricep rhabdo -- and then Thursday I came down with a cold. Today I'm finally feeling better to start getting back at it. Since it's so close to the race I'm going to focus on burpees, grip/hang strength, and hills. We're doing the race with a team, and I don't know that anyone feels/is fully prepared -- so we're just aiming to finish together. Mission #3: Decrease TV watching This is back again. I started thinking about how I manage my time and rest on Monday, after a small group discussion about the importance and prioritization of rest. What I will allow is TV that actually contributes to feeling happier. Shows: Brooklyn 9-9 (because it makes me LOL) and Dr. Ken (because my cousin is in it) -- since I'm pretty current on those, it's only 1hr/week. No more Netflix/Hulu watching the bazillion hours of entire show seasons. Movies with bf are allowed -- it's not like we watch more than one at once anyhow. Let's do this.

Guess who's back? That's right! Me, good ol' Korra. It's been a little over 6 months since I went awol, but I just couldn't stay away. Once a rebel, always a rebel. And guess what? I graduated college! I've got that milestone over and done with. No thanks to my university. I'm pretty salty about the whole college experience. Heck, my college cut over half the classes in the college of the liberal and fine arts leaving half the professors with barely a working wage and the other half were either forced to find work elsewhere or into retirement. And don't get me started on my personal career advisor. Since my original one was on leave I was given a new one. At the beginning of the semester, everything was running smoothly when he told me I had everything in order to graduate. Then all of a sudden I get an email a few weeks before graduation stating that he had overlooked a few things and that I was suddenly missing credit hours and couldn't graduate. And this was after I sent out the graduation invitations and ordered my ring. I wasn't sent un-invitation cards to everyone, waste another semester and add a few thousand more dollars to my already crippling student debt because of this. I filled out paperwork for graduation, crammed for a few CLEP exams, and walked the stage and earned my diploma. Now the only problem is finding a job. I've got a shiny new degree and no career to follow it up with. Ah, the struggle of a post-graduate. And I still live with the folks and work retail. At least I made the main goal of my last challenge. I graduated and that's all that matters. 2016 was a grand dumpster fire, though. During that year I: - Got my first real b/f -was dumped by said b/f -pledged for a fraternity disguised as a business organization (for a friend) -got rejected by said fraternity (and said friend made it in and hasn't spoken to me since) -I got a job at a pet store (and still have it) where I get paid to hug puppies -gotten carried away with Pokemon go -forgot how to socialize my last semester out of fear of failing a class - cut 19in/48cm of my hair off -did a summer internship at a non-profit and witnessed some top notch burnout my hair use to look like this now it looks like this 2017 is gonna be different. During this year I'm gonna: -find me a real career -be able to afford my own teeny tiny studio apartment -start making payments on my student loans -go back to college for grad school -lose some weight -run a 5k -run a 10k -run something bigger -think about writing that book that's like HP meets Attack on Titans meets Soma meets D&D where the origins of magic is macabre and the definition of what it means to be human is really questioned But hey... baby steps. It's only a few days into the new year and I've already signed up for Rising Heroes and gotten a months subscription to a new yoga studio with the fam. By the end of the week, I hope to persuade them to start meal planning. We sorta already had to change out eating habits around Maleficent (aka my stepmom) since she had 80 percent of her stomach removed for weight loss surgery. That's life. ~~~ for now, I'll stick to the small things Main Quest: Get a job Health Quest 1: Food -Drink +72oz of water per day Health Quest 2: Exercise -workout x4 a week Health Quest 3: Sleep -get +7hrs of sleep Level Up Your Life: Language -practice duolingo x4 a week let's do this

Guess who's back?! (No, not Slim Shady....) It's been at least 6 months since I last took part in a proper challenge (holy crap, it's been so long!). I realize this one is coming a few days late, but I've had all kinds of shit going down lately and I'm slowly catching up. There's a lot to fill you all in on, but I'll do my best to give you as brief of a synopsis as possible before moving forward with my challenge goals. For those who don't know or remember me - HI! I'm your friendly neighbourhood Ranger-Cyborg who has a hankering for adventure, crafting, video games, and overall badassness. Last you guys really saw from me was a month or two after my second ICL surgery, where I had my contact lens implants replaced (hence the cyborg bit). Thankfully, everything is going great on that front! At the time, I was getting back into the crossfit game, doing some urbexing, and had recently purchased my replacement car after hit and run totaled my previous one. My boyfriend and I were living on the Massachusetts coast line and trying to get our collective 'stuff' together - sorting our individual mental health problems, improving the living situation, and doing general growing up/adulting. The present... I am continuing to go to therapy for depression and anxiety after starting last spring; it has been incredibly helpful, but opened up a lot of old wounds that never properly healed. Long term, this is good, but it has made me question a lot of things in my life. I became (and still am to some degree) unsure of my surroundings, priorities, and, most disturbingly, myself. It's brought about A LOT of introspective thought and having to figure out what's really important to me. I'm still working on it, it's not a done deal, but pieces are coming into place. I have a better idea of what path I need to be on. As for my car, I'm still loving the hell out of it, and she runs and drives like a dream. Even with the snow, ice, and low temps we've had recently, she's been swell! Now, onto some major changes. For starters, my job has been sucking the life out of me, and I've been looking to move on for a few months now. It's gotten to the point where I am just so apathetic about my work and it takes all of my effort to even get out of bed in the morning (granted, depression doesn't help with that). Luckily, a friend knew of a position that was opening at her company and offered to pass on my resume. Long story short, I should be receiving an offer letter in my inbox any day now Received the offer today - JOB ACCEPTED!! Time for the next steps Secondly, Shaun and I are no longer together. I came to the realization during my introspection that I wasn't happy in my relationship and hadn’t been for a long time. There were a number of factors involved - some had been there since the beginning, and others had come up over the last year. Ultimately, I ended it, but it's turned into a bit of a nasty situation. In any case, I have moved in with my college friend for the foreseeable future. Even with this big bad thing slowly settling itself in the background, it's brought about some good things too - I'll be closer to my new job, I have unlimited access to my friend-turned-roommate's 3 kitties (Max, Momo, and Goober), and I've made new friends and am working on strengthening my pre-existing relationships. I've also started seeing someone else, which has been an adventure in and of itself (especially since I was not expecting to get into anything new for a while, nor was I looking for it. It just kinda...happened). Lastly, due to my move, I am no longer participating in crossfit. It’s not something I want to give up completely, but I’m going to have to hold off for a bit because of the way my finances are right now. I’m bummed about it, but I gotta do what I gotta do. I think that’s all the big, or at least the most prevalent, stuff that tends to show up in my posts. So, shall we move along to the goals?

Quick sketch of what I'm thinking of this challenge: It's going to be busy at work, it has the potential to be stressful, and I need to manage that: Sleep - check in with the Black Ribboners a few times a week, and continue to work on habits. I may start modifying wake up time, Cooking - eat some damn veggies (I've been slacking...made a huge amount of braised pork shoulder Sunday though, so I'm set for protein for the next several days). I have both broccoli and Brussels sprouts in the fridge though, so there's no excuse. PT - the shoulder is doing better, but still need to keep with the PT. We're on a 3 week cycle at the moment, since I just need to focus on the exercises I've been given. Continue the nerve glides throughout the day Do the full mobility work 2x per day. Do the band work at least once per day (it's supposed to be really easy, so if it feels good, can do more). Suburi, because, suburi Take, or at least plan a small road trip (maybe to the coast), because I have a new car (zoom zoom) to finally replace my dearly departed subaru. Retool my 401k - I was reviewing it the other day, and noticed there are some things I need to re-balance, and funds that I want to shift. So - research and update. I don't think it will take all 4 weeks, but I do need to set aside some time to dig in. Have fun - it's the holidays! (i.e, tap my inner Arch Chancellor).