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This challenge ends during my next convention, so it lines up pretty perfectly with some of my goals to get back in shape and make progress on costumes. Here we go. Let's do this. For real this time... cause something has to work, eventually, right? Dauntless – I Am Brave We believe in ordinary acts of bravery; the courage to drive one person to stand up for another. I am going to be less hard on myself. I always say I will do “x†program for this challenge. I’m getting a little workout ADD, so I want to just say that I will workout 30 minutes or more 5x a week. It can be biking, yoga, running, one of my many home programs, WHATEVER. My goal is to work toward doing push-ups on my toes, so I will try to incorporate push-ups every day, but the focus will really be on just MOVING 5x a week and increasing my strength. Candor – I Am Honest Truth makes us transparent. Truth makes us strong. I’ve been unwise with money this year. I’ve paid off my credit cards only to hike them back up again. I have $1,500 to pay off and I need to pay it off fast. I want to be done with credit cards because it is becoming more and more obvious to me that I can’t use them responsibly. They make it too easy to spend money I don’t have because it doesn’t seem tangible. Money isn’t a thing anymore, it’s the swipe of a card and a worry for tomorrow. As I try to get more into the mindset of setting myself up to start a family, this can’t be the case anymore. My goal is to pay my debt down by half by the end of this challenge. That’s $750 between three cards. I can do that. If I do more, great… but the goal should be realistic and attainable, so we’re starting with just half. Erudite – I Am Intelligent Knowledge is the only logical solution to the problem of conflict. I know that I need to slow down my social life and focus on getting ‘me’ things done 3x a week. I will have two tasks under this category and every time I work on either of them, I will count it as a success. I want to make progress on my cousin’s baby blanket (knitting). I want to complete my Princess Bubblegum gown in time for MetaCon on September 4th. These things are stimulation for ME. It’s me time, and time for my brain to recoup and regenerate without feeling like I’m being pulled in 100 directions to do other things. Amity – I Am Peaceful Trust, Self-Sufficiency, Kindness, Forgiveness, Involvement. This portion of my challenge will explore yoga and stretching 5x a week. Let’s be honest. I am not flexible – especially in my hips. It may sound crazy but sometime in the next 18ish months, I’d like to think I’ll be squeezing a tiny human out of there, so it’s time to suck it up and work on the hips and hammies. I plan to combat this by working through stretches that prepare the body for doing splits. I have several places of reference for making my hammie and hips more flexible: http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/How-Do-Splits-3551904#photo-3552999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZTGgEWPbLk And Cheech’s famous Hip Openers http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/50130-side-quest-3-put-your-hips-into-it/ http://www.yogajournal.com/article/practice-section/hip-enough/ Abnegation – I Am Selfless I will become my undoing if I become my obsession. This is going to be a stretch, but for Abnegation, I am going to be selfless by treating my body like a sanctuary again. I’ve gotten back into processed foods, lots of coffee, and quick meals out, but I need to practice more discipline or I will be my own undoing. For this challenge, I am allowed ONE meal out per week and ONE cup of coffee a day. If I don’t use it, it doesn’t pile up. If I don’t use it, it’s gone. This, in theory, will stop me from stockpiling them to have one week where I just slack off and eat out every day.

BRAVE This is my keyword for 2015. I happened to watch Divergent on New Year's Eve and picked up some inspiration from it on how to be BRAVE in the coming year. And I'm reading the book right now, my first book of 2015. The components of my keyword are Bold Bibliophile (read/write/try to get published), Romantic Renovator (cleaning and redecoration my home so dates can come over, and also, dating), Action Adventurer (zip-lining, rock-climbing, traveling, fun stuff), Victorious Volunteer (giving more of my time and talents to others, especially in my church), Energetic Enthusiast (losing weight, getting fit, and having fun doing it). Working my way through all of that can be considered my Main Quest for the new year. There are some specific goals in each category I've laid out for myself, not necessarily going to share all of those with the group, just the ones that apply here. For this first challenge, I'm starting from scratch. I've ditched the attribute points because I'm not a gamer and they haven't done much to inspire me. But there is a points system for initiates to Dauntless so I'm going to try and incorporate that into my goals for this challenge. However, it's late and I need to get to bed, so goals will appear tomorrow.

Has anyone read this fantastic book? I LOVE it. I've loved it since it came out. It really spoke to me. I didn't like the second book, Insurgent, quite as much, but Divergent is one of my all time favorites. When I read it, I decided I wanted to be more Dauntless. Not 100% Dauntless because that's not my style. But I was a little Dauntless. I went bungee jumping and didn't scream or make any noise at all. It was awesome. I also love it because I have a son named Tobias (born before the book came out though - I'm not THAT much of a nerd.) What faction would you choose to be in? I'd choose Erudite.

Today, is a day of Choosing. Well, all days allow for choices. You could chose to eat candy. You could chose to eat salad. You could chose to watch TV. You could chose to read. You could even chose to sleep away your days, to waste your life, if that’s what you’d like. For a long time, my choice was to serve others. I chose to spend all my time helping friends. Family. Complete strangers. Myself? I didn’t care much about myself. Everything I did, was for others. As a teenager, you could describe me in one word - volunteer. I helped everyone. All the time. I spent many late nights at the hospital. I had many early mornings searching for lost hikers. Once I had kids, my life revolved around them - I existed for them. I spent all day in service - to my family. When friends asked me for help, I’d drop everything else. My own interests, my own body, my own mind - they were not a priority. Today, though, is a very important day for me, because I’m making a choice that will change my life, forever. I am choosing to become Dauntless. To be brave. To be tough. To be free. Sub-Quest 1: Workout 5 days a week, alternating between HIIT/Stroller Strides and body weight exercises. +2 STR +1 DEX +2 STA I want to have a good, comprehensive workout routine for this challenge. The three body weight workouts will be lower body, upper body, and total body. HIIT will be on off days. Once I get a jogging stroller (shopping now), HIIT will be replaced with Stroller Strides. These workouts will be in the afternoon or evening, before dinner. Sub-Quest 2: Do a stretching, flexibility, or yoga session daily. +2 CON +1 DEX I am inflexible and stiff all the time. I will change this. I want to be able to move, and move quickly, without having to worry about my knees or back. This is my focus this challenge - to be fighting fit, I must be flexible. Sub-Quest 3: Eat Paleo 6 days a week. +2 CON +1 CHA Once again, I have a Paleo goal for this challenge. After taking the last challenge off, I’ve let my diet become worse and worse, to the point of being absolutely terrible for both my physical and mental state. So, for this challenge, I will eat strict Paleo on average 6 days a week. The remaining day, I will allow myself anything I would like - however, I’m saving these days for special occasions - during this challenge, there is Easter, Father’s Day, my anniversary, and my daughter’s birthday, so that’ll take up most of them, with a few ‘oops’ days thrown in for good measure. Life Quest: Captivate others and get them to buy anything by studying COPYWRITING. +2 WIS +1 CHA I have been studying copywriting for a while, but it’s time to focus on this some more. I am doing the Gary Halbert Challenge, which is supposed to be a 30 day challenge. It has taking me 30 days just to read the first two books. I would like to finish the challenge during this challenge, but if that doesn’t happen, I’m okay with that. I just have to keep trucking along and do a little more every day. Fitness/Diet Side Quest: Practice escaping by practicing Parkour for at least 5 minutes a day. +1 DEX I used to do Parkour, and I used to be good at it. So, I’m going to be working at getting my skills back. I will begin with the basics - rolls, precision jumps, and vaults. I will move to more advanced techniques as I progress. Schedule: MONDAY: Stroller Strides/HIIT AM Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga PM TUESDAY: Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga AM Convict Conditioning PM WEDNESDAY: Stroller Strides/HIIT AM Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga PM THURSDAY: Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga AM Convict Conditioning PM FRIDAY: Stroller Strides/HIIT AM Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga PM SATURDAY: Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga AM Convict Conditioning PM SUNDAY: Flexibility/Stretching/Yoga AM