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This round is a foray into the Way of Wisdom, making soulful, good choices and making space for those choices. The key to this challenge is to take my time, slow down, and remember that there is no pressure. It's time to make time as well as take time. In this Way, all the dots are connected and all the details are in order. Classwork is the success matrix, but there’s a lot of life that is going to happen along the Way. Intelligence: This is the key, and there are a lot of details, but not nearly as many moving parts as there were last round. I came back from NY and was very disengaged, and I’m glad to note that spell passed, but here we are with me taking a very sharp-eyed look at how much I put on my plate this term; it was a lot. It was, in fact, too much, and I’ll not be repeating this (see Wisdom) Strength: Go to work; edited to add a bonus of paying off debt, since this has shifted into the stregnth category. Wisdom: Tuition payment; not signing up for everything under the sun next term. This is a season of focus. Constitution: Eating well; resting often. Bonus: sauna & Steps. I have a fancy MRI during Zero Week to figure out what is going on with my insides. Also, I started gym time twice a week in the pool with Kat and Mikayla and I’d like to continue that. Dexterity: A double helping of dexterity was needed last round. I’ll likely need some dexterity for this challenge too, and I need to make the space to let that happen. Stamina: Anton Chekov wrote, “Any idiot can handle a crisis; it’s the day to day living that wears you out.” Wisdom can help. Opening Stats Con 9 Str 8 Int 12 Dex 12 Wis 11 Cha 11 Sta 4

*sliiiides in with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee* WELP hello there~ ❤️ So TL;DR I was kinda 50/50 on doing a challenge this round because frankly I'm kinda lukewarm on the forums lately, but I'm like.... . next year I will have been here for TEN YEARS and jesus wept that's a long time. Plus everyone here is really the best person ever, all of you, you reading this, you are wonderful and a reason why this community is awesome. So why not give it another go yeah?? Anyways I am writing up this challenge because I have some habits I want to re-lay some foundations for and what better place than here? 1. The first goal is the big important one - I'm gonna STOP DRINKING. And by stop I mean stop except for special occasions and social events. I've always kinda on/off struggled with drinking - and it's not that I drink a lot in one sitting but it's more of the consistency. It affects a lot - my weight, my stomach, my skin, my sleep, my mental health.. on and on. I honestly enjoy drinking every so often so it's been hard! And it's been easier to sit down with a drink or two now that I don't have a job and I've been using it as a crutch for some of my stress and anxiety and I'm at the point where it's just, gotta STOP. I did a little experiment last week - I had no alcohol for 5 days and felt GREAT, then Friday night I had a few drinks that evening just to see how it would affect me. I slept like shit, woke up in the middle of the night hot and sweaty with a minor headache and just this wild!! anxiety over the STUPIDEST little things... and I was just like, ok, heard, no more of this. The after effects of drinking are at the point where it just hugely outweighs the enjoyment it brings me in the moment. Not gonna do this ANYMORE. I've attempted to curtail my drinking before but it never really panned out - frankly I'm not the best at enforcing my own rules - but for some weird-ass reason this time, I feel like it's the TIME. Like previously it's been kinda a heave-ho chore to work on drinking less but right now it doesn't seem like a chore at all, it's like something has clicked and it's like.... oh, ok, cool. It's hokey as hell but I feel like I'm being called to do this right now. I'm ready and I'm honestly EXCITED. I'm looking forward to only drinking as a once in a while treat. I'm looking forward to enjoying this better mental health and joy and clarity I've gained from NOT drinking consistently. I'm looking forward to better health benefits and being able to pursue the goals I want to. I'm looking forward to making this conscious choice DARNIT I do know this will be hard at points so I am giving myself four drink tickets for this 6 week challenge. (yes zero week is included heheh) I can have a few drinks at 4 points over this challenge and that is IT. Each time I do I turn in a ticket, and if/when I'm out of tickets, that's it! I'm also really interested in reporting back the effects of how drinking affects me at this point. I'm so invested in this goal that I'm doing something I NEVER do and giving myself a reward at the end of this challenge if I complete it successfully. There's a super cute FFXIV-themed crossbody bag that is SO my style and I want it realllll bad but it's a whole $75 and yeah I could just buy it but I think it'd be better if I made the purchase MEAN something, you know? 2. Intentional movement more days than not during a week. I had been doing really well with this, then we adopted Hiko and my life turned into Kitten and Cat Damage Control and everything else kinda flew out the window. Things have settled (kindaaaaaa) over the 2 weeks we've had them both co-existing and I feel very ready to get back into this routine! Ideally I'd like one day to get outside and do a good fall hike/walk, two days of lifting, and 1-2 days of getting back into my boxing training BUT I am not beholding myself to any strict schedule, just get myself moving more days than not and it's a win. Once I re-build the habit the rest will fall into place. AND THAT'S IT Those are my main two goals and I'm keeping it SIMPLE so I can start rebuilding my foundation. I've had so much crap happen to me over the past *checks watch* five years that I've just slowly gotten off track.. I've lost a lot of strength and fitness overall and let my habits I worked so hard to instill slip in the face of stress and despair and life tragedies that I'm kinda back at square one. But that's okay 'cause I can only build up from here! I promise to check in as often as I can and also pay the cat tax~ ❤️❤️ ( my beautiful and chaotic sons coexisting aaaaaa )

Bouncer stood facing away from the Eclipse watching as the world turned dark underneath the shadows. Noticing how the world reacted. The moon had said hello to watch the changes in this Autumn season. As the sun returned and the cool wind swept through Bouncer’s robes. Bouncer felt the welcome magic of the Moon, something that she had been ignoring far too long. What would happen once she accepted the magic of the night moon instead of a passing by hello? A friend that could be a healthy relationship, an ally to enhance the tools she already learned over all these years. This challenge fell together. I will be focusing on the number 1 habit of having a routine bedtime (getting to sleep early enough for 7-9 hours of sleep). Turning off screens by 6 pm 7 pm, be in bed by 8 pm. (If out late try to be in bed within an hour of coming home). I have sleep debt and low skill habits on sticking to a healthy bedtime. The one habit I have because of 2 kittens is a wake-up time. Even on a day off I will be up at 5 am due to the squeaky alarms of a tortoise kitten. I will not be 100% on this challenge due to some days I will be out late or working late. I will focus on 80% good enough! Exercise, nutrition, and decluttering are side quests/bonus buffs for this challenge (since they will all enhance a better sleep cycle). But when shit hits the fan I will have a 100% day if I get to bed by 8 pm or within an hour of getting home for late nights. Daily reward, if I have time in the morning 15 mins of no guilt gaming play (or planned time after work). (I’m really into Sims 4 right now and I usually only have time to play 5 mins at a time…) Life Quest – Blood Moon Awareness

Imagine, if you will, a scene from long ago - a 1930s comic book, say. Imagine an ill-fitting manhole cover, halfway down a dark alley. It’s slightly askew, set into a poorly-paved street. Every so often a sickly-looking yellowish-gray vapor drifts up around its edges. Every night, you must pass down this alley, past the manhole cover and its trailing vapor, to get home. Some nights the walk goes easy: there is no vapor, or you dodge it gracefully. You swing on past, into your evening. But other nights are harder. Sometimes the vapor drifts lovingly around your ankle, nudging you back just a little: not yet. You’re not done yet. Sometimes it wraps around your leg like a vise, holding you still, while images of might-have-been beat helplessly in your mind. Sometimes, on bad days, the vapor is followed by a scaled, slimy tentacle. It slides up around your torso and pulls you under, down into the tunnels below. On those days, the work-creep dragon hasn’t just slowed you down: it’s made its way into your dreams, keeping you from sleep or waking you at three in the morning, eager to make you its own. The challenge: get my work hours under control. Over the past few months, the time and energy I spend at work has crept up and up, to a point where it feels unsustainable. Too many days are way too long, and way too often I’m waking up in the middle of the night thinking about some work topic with my heart racing for no good reason. Last week I started a four-week sprint of trying to improve things. It was rocky. I wasn’t originally going to join this challenge (just found the forum, starting late, new, etc), but reading other people’s challenges was inspiring, and the timing fit with what I’d originally planned(!). So here I am. The goal: work a predictable, in-control schedule, in my current job. I have a specific, reasonable schedule in mind. The schedule can shift around (eg earlier or later relative to transit), but I want to prevent the days from running long. To make this sustainable, I need to pull it off without feeling perpetually rushed or cramming things in. It can’t be a short-term, pre-vacation sprint type thing. This implies ... saying no to things? better planning? at a minimum. Probably some other stuff too. Why now: I’ve always believed in keeping work (and when I was a kid, school) in bounds, but over the years it’s gotten harder and harder to do that. As far as I can tell, this is at least as much about my own momentum as it is about the job - so I am optimistic it’s possible to solve (and also mildly terrified about making it happen). I feel like I’ve hit some kind of tipping point on needing to do this. Emotionally and practically, this feels huge. If I can make it happen, I think it will be foundational - I’m not even sure in what direction yet, but more in line with what I want the shape of my life to be. I started out with a plan, but. Last week recap (Sept 18-24) Monday and Tuesday went long. Both days, something I hadn’t planned for came up, and I stayed around to deal with it. I also just felt awkward about leaving, as if the momentum to keep working were a real physical thing. Wednesday went even longer: over the previous week, I’d come down with a persistent cough, and a friend pointed out that I should take Thursday & Friday off to recover (um, ideally I would have noticed this myself. OTOH that’s what friends are for, right?!) I stayed late Wednesday to make it easier to take Thursday & Friday off. Thursday & Friday: out sick. A good decision, went to the doctor, yep, bronchitis, got meds and now recovering. Easier because I wasn’t at work. Sat quietly a lot, trying not to breathe too hard. Weekend: as I started to recover, I thought more about what Monday-Wednesday had in common, and what I could do to improve week 2’s odds. Found this forum and started reading. Changes after last week Wrote a specific checklist for how to start, manage, & end my work days (when I need to head to work, check my schedule, see what’s coming, etc). Aiming to be pretty structured & habitual about this. Checklist includes daily reviewing my schedule to make sure it works: starts and ends per schedule, no overlapping meetings, some breaks, a functional % of non-meeting time. I don’t know what % that is, so I’m trying to observe & figure that out. Updated my recurring weekly schedule to include start/wrapup time each day. I’ll use this to plan & close up the days. I don’t know how much I need, so figuring that out too. Started tracking hours of meetings per week & per day. I’ll see how this correlates to how things go. The big insight from last week: I need to look at and plan for how much slack there is in the day. Every day that’s run late, it’s because something unexpected came up. This is normal in my job (most jobs?), so the only way to solve for it is to expect it & build in extra time for it. ^ Either I need to get comfortable with pushing things back when there isn’t slack, or I need to make sure there is slack. Anything else results in longer work days. ^ Also means I need better awareness of how much slack there is on any given day. ^ This feels to me massively counterintuitive: I’m trying to control work hours, so it feels more natural to pack things in. But packing things in hasn’t worked, so better try something different. This week so far Monday worked! Stopped on time. Only had two hours of meetings, it was my first day back after being sick, and Mondays are often slow, so it wasn’t the toughest day - but it worked. I also spent a whopping hour and a half of my work day wrangling my schedule into shape for the next week-plus. I hope this pays dividends. Tuesday: a bigger challenge, because over half the day was meetings, and I started with a long to-do list. But because I schedule-wrangled on Monday, I had built in some breaks (unusual for me) and knew what to expect. I kept reminding myself not to expect much focused work. If the day needed to be meetings, let it be meetings. I fit in a few small tasks between things. And... I stopped on time!!! Worth noticing: As a bonus to my approach of breaks & realistic expectations, I had noticeably higher quality conversations with people, which will in turn I think lead to better or more efficient work. Also a more pleasant day. Both Monday & Tuesday did just “feel weird” in terms of stopping. It’s a nagging feeling like ‘there’s more I could do, I should do it… ?’ or ‘am I really done for the day?’ and it takes a fair bit of stubborn to stop anyway. I hope this wears off over time. It seems more like habit than rationality. The schedule I’m targeting is reasonable, and there will always be more to do. Looking to today Today is Wednesday, another meeting-heavy day. Planning to follow my checklist, remind myself of expectations, and see if I can pull it off. I had not expected to write 1400 words about all this. Well. Why the manhole cover? Well ... as I read other people’s challenges, I realized I liked the idea of giving a sense of physicality to what I’m trying to change. My job is all on a screen, and it’s easy for everything to feel unreal. In contrast, the pull to just keep working does have a sense of almost physical momentum. For the work-creep dragon, I’m talking about ‘taming’ not ‘conquering’ or ‘defeating’ it because in a lot of ways, it’s just inherent to my job. There always is, always will be, more to do. I don’t expect (or hopefully, need) this to go away. I want to get better at dealing with it, keep it from grabbing me around the ankle or getting into my head & my sleep, and get on with my life instead. It’s also worth mentioning that this isn’t a ‘my job is terrible, get a new one’ kind of situation. This is about changing how I relate to it (and by extension, how I relate to any job in future). It’s a good job, fits me well - I just want it to work for me better than it is.

The pain eventually ends. Walking becomes easier, smoother, as stiff muscles begin to loosen up and find their strength again. Scalyfreak eats as she walks, unwilling to stop and grateful for her travel rations, that for some reason still seem to be just as fresh as they were when she packed them. This is strange, and initially a little unnerving, but Scalyfreak learned not to question positive surprises a long time ago. It's an unnerving walk. The terrain remains unfamiliar from the earthquake. The weather is bright and sunny warm, the sky is clear and blue, and the forest around her is quiet. Completely quiet. Too quiet. It is very unnerving. So Scalyfreak continues to walk, continues to eat, continues to stretch in between bites as she walks, and continues to remain on alert for another ambush or sudden attack from Self-Sabotage. The forest is peaceful and silent. Completely silent. Too silent. A brief “intro” for anyone who doesn't know me very well: I am still working on re-establishing my healthy habits from before I was laid off. Meditation is back on track, but my health bar and stamina bar continue to regenerate slowed than I spend. For this reason, I will “only” have two goals this challenge: Refill the stamina bar, and level up the health bar. The health bar is the red HP meter and it is maintained and refilled by taking care of my body. This means giving it regular opportunities for movement move and building muscles, and yes, the myocardium remains one of them. The green stamina bar is emotional bandwidth and mental strength. The bar is replenished and grown by doing things that genuinely improve my quality of life, make me happy now or in the future, or just make me feel really good And that is it. Physical HP (physical health) Walked in the evening. Feisty Sidekick walked with us again, and it was as adorable and fun as it was before. Recover Stamina (fortify emotional bandwidth) After talking about it for a couple of months now, we finally did it... we have paid off our mortgage. Husband and I now officially own our house, and as a pleasant side-effect we are now also completely debt free. This is a big deal for us, and we're excited, and I feel good about this.

Hello all, How have you all been? I've been on a rapid healing journey, finally getting out of my head & survival mode and starting to invest back into the people around me. Friends that stayed after others left and friends I am making new with the energy I am slowly gaining now that I accept people who cannot get enough of it to remain anywhere near me unless absolutely necessary. I'm gaining skills and knowledge I didn't have before and regaining such that I had lost during, well... I call it brain damage after repeated re-traumatisation. The politically correct terms I use out in the wild are "burn-out because of my master's thesis and covid". My professional education started this week. I am re-building the relationship with my family on my own terms. I'm slowly getting routines in my new city of residence and at my office. I'm making the most out of what feels like a generally speaking new energetic era. I have a few weight loss, exercise and life goals. I want to lose 5 kilograms but I'm going to track that with photos. I want to pick up something for strength or endurance and a mental balancing/flexibility activity and stick to them weekly for at least 6 months. I find it likely that will be weightlifting and yoga in practice. I want to become a good conversationalist again and let go of the social anxieties I regained during covid. That includes picking up my hobbies so I find myself interesting again (lol), (re)learning about conversational techniques, (re)learning ethics of the social circles I'm in and applying them, among other things. I'm going to play it all by ear for now, as my grandmother passed away last night and I'm going to make a trip to the other side of the continent to go to her funeral and support my family... But as always, having a thread to write my thoughts that can theoretically be read by others (even if it doesn't) always helps me with accountability. (I know I haven't been around a lot and I don't know if I can reciprocate yet, and life is hectic and busy for most of us.) So... The games begin! Allons-y! Yours, Renate P.S. - I'll elaborate on the thread title sometime, I promise!

Briefly, a Who I Am: I'm a 44 year old American woman living on a 10 acre woodland property in rural England I call Owlshire with my partner and 5 y/o son. I work in gamedev, our son is home educated (by ourselves and outsourced help), we have a bouncy adolescent golden retriever pup, a flock of plucky rescue hens, and as a family we enjoy nature and gaming. We moved to Owlshire not quite three years ago in the midst of the Global Pandemic/UK Lockdowns and we're still trying to find/form our tribe of fellow misfits and geeks. This challenge looks a lot like the last one, but with more travel. I turned 44 at the end of the last challenge, and my intention is to embrace the unknowns of our unique and quirky life and not worry so much that just because something changed that everything is "bad" or "wrong." Because it isn't at all! It just doesn't look quite what a past me thought it would look like! We are living an off-the-road-most-traveled adventure, and here be dragons. Dragon Form Building my strength and stamina and getting a sleeker dragon shape. Continue to aim for 80,000 steps a week. My weight at same or lower by the end of the challenge. Also, reduce snacking. This has become a real problem, I'm nibbling on something between nearly every meal and I'm not even hungry. I suspect it started as stress eating and has now become a habit I need to break. Dragon Wings Exploration and adventure at home and beyond. I have two overnight trips known for this challenge: A two day business trip to London. A three night trip to Devon for pleasure (my annual "Mum's holiday") There are some more in discussion but not yet defined. I decided not to do the cruise I was pondering last challenge, as it was causing me a lot of stress to decide on and figure out, and the whole point was a holiday plan that didn't stress me out. I haven't yet decided when or what I'll do instead. I also need to set up arrangements for trips which will happen later this year: Dragon Heart Vision, community, and mental health. Update Vision Statement One things I realized during the last challenge is that I was feeling out of sorts because life had deviated from The Vision. But actually, life was going in good--even great--directions. I'm still walking toward the same Mountain, it turns out; I'm just approaching from a different route. So I'm updating The Vision. I'm still working to align it and make the verbiage pretty rather than just a bunch of haphazard bulletpoints, but I'm already feeling better. Complete the Vision 2023 Update. Be more social Reach out and arrange things with local people. This includes with my family! Arrange regular games and outdoor activites with Enting Arrange regular date nights with Mr. Spirituality/Pagan Studies Spend more time on spiritual activities. It always ends up the first things sacrificed when things go sideways, and that's probably when I need it the most! For this challenge I'm focusing on lessons and learning as part of the pagan groups I'm in because it's easily measurable and pleases my inner Hermione Granger. Complete 3 lessons (including the one in progress) for my coven. Reinvestigate the Hearthkeeper's Way (ADF) to integrate in my practice. Dragon Horde Taking care of Owlshire, creating a comfy place to live. Continue the decluttering project. Look after my autumn garden. There are pumpkins!

Friends, nerds, party people, WELCOME to my shiny new challenge!! Pull up a chair or one of those bougie ass bean bags or a comfy mat and grab a nice relaxing drink of choice and settle the heck in with me! ❤️ My last challenge derailed itself wildly as, while I was on a path to up my fitness and working towards 100,000 punches, life decided to show up and go, HA! Nice try my dude, you’re gonna shelve that for a little bit because you have to take care of yourself in other ways first! And instead I took a monstrous leap of faith and quit my job. This was a TERRIFYING thing for me to do - I am a person who has always been go-go-go with a very strong work ethic and boundless energy. But in the last two years since my mom passed away suddenly, a lot has changed for me and I’m just.. Not able to do the things I used to. This summer has been a struggle and I found myself increasingly fatigued to the point where my life was pretty much work - rest - dissociate on the weekends with video games - insert random days of anxiety and depression - repeat - and I didn’t like it. This has been a VERYyyyy hard truth to stare in the face and reconcile with, but my mental and physical health were suffering and I knew I needed to make a hard choice for myself. I’m eternally grateful to be in a place where I can even make this choice, and I’m mindful of this every day. I’m going to take a few months to step back and breathe and re-center myself before I start looking for part-time work closer to home (or even better WFH) and of a lesser intensity. This challenge is going to be the baseline for that and is probably going to look a little different than my recent challenges! I will still follow my monk path but I have also been leaning heavily into my old pagan/druid roots, so my goals are as follows...: Cultivate my Connections Real talk - I AM A BAD FRIEND. There I SAID it! The caveat is not that I’m really a bad friend, it’s just that I’m the absolute worst at keeping in touch with literally anyone outside of myself, my husband, and our cat. I probably would be perfectly content being a hermit for the rest of my life, but that’s nnnnnot a really good outlook or way to live. It’s less effort for me to do my own thing as opposed to fostering my connections with others and that is about to change. I really want to take this time to cultivate my friendships and connections with people - make an active effort to reach out more, meet up and go out to dinner and actually DO things. People often want to do things with me but I’m very dhsalfkas about making plans and actually sticking to them. Man is not an island and I realize when I connect with people that I enjoy, I get SO much fulfillment out of it! So I’m gonna do it more. I don’t want to drain my social batteries so just making an effort to connect more via text and chat and Discord is high on this list too. And here, posting HERE more and being able to intentionally follow everyone’s updates and interact more, that means a lot to me and is a big goal too. I already have a lunch date with an old coworker of mine next week, and then the day before the equinox I’m meeting up with another friend who is also an old coworker that does loads of energy work, and she’s going to have a reiki session with me and I am STOKED. This will all be good for me! Recalibrate my Spirit Before My Life Went Bananas I was a pretty spiritual person, especially so when I lived in North Carolina. I leaned heavily into a pagan following for quite some time - I have a Book of Shadows, I honored the Wheel of the Year, I followed the lunar cycles (and past shaar even had a whole challenge series devoted to FULL MOONS), I had rituals, I pulled from my tarot often, I went to sound cleansing seminars.. Lots of stuff. It was always very grounding for me and something that fulfilled me huuugely. I’ve kinda deviated from that over the past years but lately I’ve been very much lately feeling the pull to bring all of this back to the forefront of my life. I really started digging into this a week or so before I quit my job and it was an obvious sign from the universe because it instantly paid itself back in dividends. I’ve been pulling a tarot card daily and each one has been exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment. I’ve been following the lunar alignments and phases and how it can reflect my current situation and just like the cards, it’s been wildly striking at how much I just needed to hear what was being told to me. It’s been nothing but reassuring that I am on the right path, and that re-opening myself to THIS spiritual path has also come at the right time. I will work to make this a good habit over this challenge - taking time for myself and my mental health and foster my spirituality even more. Reflecting on my intentions and the signs that are being given to me, honoring the seasons and solar events, purifying my space and my energy in life, and letting all of this enrich my life and help me grow! Intentional Movement It’s time to focus on my physical fitness too in a sustainable way (REMEMBER THE SUSTAINABLE PART SHAAR) so I’m setting myself a baseline goal to exercise more days during the week than not. I’m not going to behold myself to any set schedule or regimen, I’m just going to see how I’m feeling that day and roll with it. This can be anything from FightCamp workouts to lifting to yoga and mobility, to going outside for a hike or a bike ride or, my personal favorite, a cemetery walk. (heheh) I’ve been struggling with consistency lately but I think I’m setting myself up in a good place to make that change and rebuild these foundational habits. Nourish my Life Y’all I LOVE COOKING. So so so much! It’s a huge joy in my life and unfortunately lately I haven’t been able to devote as much time to it as I would like. Time for this to change! Each week I’m still going to batch cook our lunches, but I’m also going to add a few premade breakfasts into the mix. It’s honestly SO easy and I’m finding since I started batch cooking breakfast a couple weeks ago I feel so much better and more full throughout the morning. Also, I’m going to have much more time to devote to creative dinners during the week, which I’m suuuuper looking forward to jumping into and sharing with everyone. Create more amazing wholesome nourishing meals. That’s it. That’s the goal. Tend to the Mountain of Whispering Blades And lastly, a task I’ve wanted to tackle for a hot minute. We totally revamped and cleaned out our basement to get our home gym set up and functioning, but the rest of the house is in definite need of decluttering, reorganizing, and deep cleaning every room! The last time I did a thorough clean was before we moved in in November 2021 and honestly even then I was probably running on stress, adrenaline, and bourbon so yeah it’s TIME. Gonna write up a huge-ass checklist for each room and post it here, and tackle one room at a time. Washing windows, cleaning vents, attacking stairwell cobwebs, scrubbing the wood floors, NOTHING IS SAFE. I am really, really, really glad to be ready to take a step back and enrich my life again. I've been incredibly happy over the past week, happier than I've been in a while and I'm looking to continue on with this good energy and tackle these goals alongside you guys!! Thank you to everyone that's stuck with me over my nearly-ten-years of chaos life here on NF, whether it's chatting or commenting or just dropping an emoji, this really is one of the best places on the internet and I'm always so grateful to be a part of it. Nowwww LET'S GET IT~!! ❤️❤️

Some big things are afoot! I’m having to be brave and do some things that are Actually Scary in the coming weeks. Along the way there’s some exciting stuff that will really tax my stamina — a week in New York presenting at a conference is an amazing opportunity, but it’s also depleting for this introvert, and is going to wreak havoc with my disability support structures and routines. And finances. Fight forward. Courage + Defiance = Fortitude A Fortitude Saving Throw measures your ability to stand up to physical punishment or attacks against your vitality and health. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws. Intelligence Open Canvas daily Read 60 minutes a day Write daily for class Finalize Conference Presentation Strength Go to work Wisdom: Loosening the hold of debt: Credit card balances <25%; Increase savings (This is going to be difficult with the NY trip, but I’m keeping financial health on my radar.) Constitution Eating good food every day Healing: Acupuncture; therapy; daily medications Charisma Sleep Bonus: sauna, steps, sociability Dexterity Stay nimble and hold emotions loosely (especially at work:without getting caught up in the chaos) stay brave. Stamina Sleep, food, rest Opening Stats Con 8 Str 7 Int 10 Dex 10 Wis 10 Cha 9 Sta 3 Challenge Wrap up A Fortitude Saving Throw measures your ability to stand up to physical punishment or attacks against your vitality and health. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws.So, Let’s talk about the Constitution score, which is pretty low, as heroes go, and isn’t going to be getting higher any time soon. Intelligence: I did okay with this until the travels, and then this became difficult and fiddly. Even so, everything (mostly) got done. +2 Open Canvas daily Read 60 minutes a day Write daily for class Finalize & Present at the Conference: Knocked it out of the park, and the travels didn’t kill me! Strength: +1, because all the basics were met. Nothing special or bonus, just doing the things. Go to work Wisdom: +1 for making the debt payments; +1 for lowering overall credit card debt to <25% before the NY trip. Next challenge will be about taking stock of the wreckage and making a plan for that. Loosening the hold of debt: Credit card balances <25%; savings increased. (This is going to be difficult with the NY trip, but I’m keeping financial health on my radar.) Constitution: The interim acupuncturist is not so great, and this is good to know. Good eating happened even while traveling. +1 Eating good food every day Healing: Acupuncture; therapy; daily medications Charisma+2, because the NY trip really knocked this out of the park and will have long-lasting effects. Sleep Bonus: sauna, steps, sociability — this was all excellent, and the Broadway and NYPL glow is still with me. Dexterity+2, where I was only expecting a +1, largely because the Trial that I thought was coming hasn’t and a surprise Trial has blown up in its place, and all of this took a heroic amount of dexterity to navigate without dropping all the other many things that are always going on. Stay nimble and hold emotions loosely (especially at work:without getting caught up in the chaos) stay brave. Stamina I’m making it work. I’m not sure if I will ever actually increase stamina; i’m here to see if I can maintain what I have. I am very impressed indeed with how I managed the constant pace of the NY trip. This is not something I would have thought possible, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t understand how much physicality would be involved, or I wouldn’t have said yes. +1 Sleep, food, rest Closing Stats Con 8 +1=9 Str 7 +1=8 Int 10 +2=12 Dex 10 +2=12 Wis 10 +1=11 Cha 9 +2=11 Sta 3 +1=4

Does it count as a respawn if you're not actually dead before it happens? Scalyfreak contemplates this largely hypothetical question as she focuses on breathing slowly in, and then slowly back out again. Slowly in. Slowly out. The itching and burning sensation that is unavoidable when organs and muscles knot themselves back together is missing, so Scalyfreak is forced to conclude that although that last swipe from Self-Sabotage clearly hit at least one artery and two vital organs, that must not have been enough to kill.... oh shit. Is she still...?! A quick but discrete glance around the surrounding landscape reveals that after administering an insultingly one-sided beat-down, the large demon beast must have left Scalyfreak for dead, and left the area as well, because she is no longer nearby. The foul odor of doubt and futility that accompanies Self-Sabotage wherever she goes lingers for hours, but the breeze dancing across the Scalyfreak finds herself in field is clear and fresh. Thankful for the solitude she stops panicking and goes back to focusing on her breathing until both the lungs and sinuses feel normal again, and then begins the grueling task of sitting up and searching for her weapons and belongings. “If it is true that whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger, I'll be able to lift buildings by the time I'm back on my feet.” Her voice sounds raspy and weak to Scalyfreak's own ears, but it doesn't hurt to speak, thankfully. It is the only thing that doesn't seem to hurt right now, but Scalyfreak learned a long time ago to be grateful for the small blessings in life. ...such as the fact that despite being punched, bitten, trampled, and literally thrown across a meadow, she has bruises and aches and pains to show for it, but not a single fracture or sprain. This would strike her as odd if all those bruises and muscle strains and the act of breathing didn't all add up to a powerfully painful distraction of the kind that begs for relief. Scalyfreak is in fact so focused on breathing through the pain and retrieving her things, that she completely fails to notice the large hoof marks in the soft ground nearby. Before diving straight this challenge period, here's a brief “intro” for anyone who doesn't know me very well: So. I failed to realize, and because of that also failed to plan for, the levels of stress and mental exhaustion I would encounter in the first few months of my new job. Oops. In addition to this, I also let all my self-care habits lapse, largely due to a severely misguided assumption that now that I had a new job, the hard part would be over. And while this technically was true, I'm discovering that's a little bit like being relieved that the swimming part of a triathlon is over. True, the swimming is done, but there are two events left to go. And I was a bad triathlete and failed to prepare for the bike and run parts. I spent the previous challenge period in a haze of depleted stamina bars and non-existent mana levels, and since sitting out this one as well breaks the rule of never-two-in-a-row, here I am again. Still tired, mentally more than physically, and fashionably late as usual, but here none the less. And I'm going back to a previous way of tracking and challenging for this one: Build HP (physical health) Intentional Warrior-inspired movement needs to happen at least once every day. The idea of moving is to strengthen muscles, and anything that accomplishes this is acceptable – lifting weights, lifting myself, doing yoga, or using the elliptical in the living room. (Yes, I am re-framing cardio as strength training for the myocardium. This is not weird.) Restore Mana (mental health) Meditate. Meditate more. At least once per day. I will primarily be using Insight Timer, but other self-care apps can sub in as needed. Recover Stamina (fortify emotional bandwidth) Emotional bandwidth is restored by doing pleasant things that make the body and mind happy. This can be a nice bath, a good book, good music, new makeup, or playing with one of the Sidekicks. The important thing is that it's intentional and mindful... background music while folding laundry does not count, for example. Enjoyable activities with Other People would also fall here. And now I need to go catch up with everyone else's threads. This may take me a while......

Clever Fox Wellness Journal: 5 goals over 6 months. Weight: <134 (this requires a 40 pound weight loss). Flexibility: Touch Toes (with legs only slightly bend, chest against thighs). Strength: Intermediate 1RM (per strengthlevel.com) for my age and gender. Fitness: 3.5 mile hike with 2,000 elevation gain (drop my time by 1-2 fitness levels) Ying Yang: Achieve balance in other areas of my life (instead of focusing exclusively on things I want to do and neglecting things I need to do) Last Challenge (Part 1) Results Weight: Lose 10 pounds: FAIL Make Yoga a habit: FAIL Make Strength Training 4x a week a habit: Success Increase Steps to 10,000 (from 4000): Success Minimalize the Entire House: Success Failed at the most important part (weight loss), but also have several wins that I shouldn't overlook. I'll come back to my failures in a moment. #5 (Yin Yang / Balance): Nearly the entire main floor of the house has been decluttered, organized, and minimalized. In addition to every surface area, every single drawer, cupboard, and closet shelf has been minimalized (purged & organized). All I have left on this floor is the laundry room. In the downstairs (I live in a ranch with a finished basement), I have my studio/office/library (tons of books to purge), the "cupboard under the stairs" (arts and crafts to organize), and the kids educational closet left to organize (but the latter two have been purged and minimalized). Every single box and bin even the ones in storage (except for 2 more) have been gone through and all accumulated trash, junk, and unused and never will be used stuff has been purged. #4 Increase Steps: Almost every day I made it to 10,000 steps. I didn't actually write it in my journal like I should have because I didn't record in my journal for most of the month because I wasn't eating right or working out (back to his failure in a moment), so I can't say for sure how many days I actually hit 10K, but it really was almost every day. I know, because I wouldn't let myself relax for the night until I hit so most evenings were spent pacing my house until I hit 10,000 steps. I can recall two days where I didn't make myself do it at all, and a few other days where I only hit 5,000 because I didn't even put the pedometer on until later in the day because I spent the morning or afternoon at the pool. Which brings me #3. #3 Fitness: I joined a gym. This is rather shocking as it was not the plan at all. At the start of this challenge I had actually just added a few things to my home gym. But then I found out that there is actually a gym right down the street from me (didn't even know it was there, it's down a little side street that is a dead end) that actually offers free childcare to members while they workout. Since I homeschool and my children are autistic, they are in desperate need of socialization, which means I can't just think, oh I don't feel like going today. I have to go because I've been looking for something like this for them, it gives them up to 2.5 hours a day with other kids, and of course I'm paying for it. So far, I seem to work out for about 1.5 hours. I go in the late morning and do a combination of barbell, dumbbells, and machines and then hop on the treadmill until I hit 5000 steps. This pretty much ensures that I hit over 10K by the end of the day (usually around 13K). Also, I definitely work out longer than at home. At home I usually run through 1-2 sets and hit each muscle group 1x. My workout lasts about 10-15 mins. And, I would only actually do a workout (at night) if it was a "good" eating day (which means I didn't workout very often at all). But now that I go in the morning (when the childcare is), I probably do 2-3 sets and hit each muscle group 2x (because of the variety of machines and barbell stations). Because of life and the gym being such an unplanned thing, I have not yet had a full consistent week. I worked out the last 2 days in a row, but my son is sick so not sure he'll be up for it in the morning. But perhaps I will go in the evening when my husband gets home. Okay, so now on to the failures. #2 Flexibility: I think I did yoga, aka stretching 2x the entire challenge. And Tai Chi Sword 0x. #1 Weight Loss: After the first week of July in which I lost 5 pounds, I gained 2 back immediately and basically spent the bulk of the challenge at the same weight I started at until this morning, when I was once again down that 5. So technically, yes, I am starting this challenge down 5 pounds from last challenge but seeing as how I re-lost the same bloody 5 pounds at the end of the last challenge/beginning of this challenge it just seems like an overall failure. Especially, since it was suppossed to be 10 pounds. And was basically 3. And if that was my body just being stubborn and holding on to fat, then so be it. But it wasn't. It was do to my horrid eating (mindless snacking) habits. And not working out for the bulk of the challenge because I got completely demotivated over my thyroid test results (which I thought indicated that I needed a higher dose and so didn't eat right or exercise while waiting for the doctor to call it in only to find out that my prescription does not need to be changed and weight loss at 45 is just hard. Grrr.).

I leave for my yoga teacher training in about a week. This course is 200 hours spread over 30 days in Canggu, Bali, Indonesia. I’m excited and anxious. I’ve done just about as much of the pre-reading I can handle - non-fiction self-helpy type books + my brain absolutely do not mesh. I’ve mostly figured out what I’m packing and have most of what I need for that. Visas are done, I’ve booked a hotel for the first 2 days I’m there before class, I’m working on getting airport transport from the hotel, and I think I know what I want to do about a SIM. DH has been briefed about all things I can brief him on - and he more or less has a plan for what he is going to do with the dogs. In the run-up, I still need to: Go to 6 yoga classes Hit the mall for a new notebook and pretty pens - + maybe stickers for my water bottle so it doesn’t get mixed up. Plus my medications, Prep some frozen foods for the pups. Finish setting my last couple recipe blog posts. Continue to work on what I want to work on - right now, that’s informational Instagrammy posts for my new teaching venture, picking a name to go under, etc. Ooh. And I want nice colored pencils so I can color my yoga anatomy book. Not sure exactly what I’m doing challenge-wise, but I’m sure it’ll be packing, prepping, going and doing related.

Hey there, Came back to the forums mid last challenge after quite a bit of a break. Similar goals to last challenge, with some minor modifications. 1) Drink Water, not Beer. Track Water Consumption. 🟩= >2.4 Liters 🟨 = 1.8-2.4 Liters 🟥= <1.8 Liters Track Alcohol Consumption. ⭐= 0 alcoholic drinks 🟩= 1-2 alcoholic drinks 🟨 = 3-4 alcoholic drinks 🟥= 5+ alcoholic drinks 2) Walk Track daily steps. 🟩= 10K+ steps 🟨 = 7.5K - 10K steps 🟥= <10K steps Not an official goal, but acknowledgement that we are in the process of buying a house and much effort will be spent decluttering/packing to prepare for closing end of August and actual moving of things through month of September. Work stress is something also to be managed since we are doing budget for next year which is an eternally painful process

I am VERY pregnant - 37 weeks and two days as of today. So baby could come tonight or not until my scheduled elective induction on August 16th. I would really prefer she show up on her own by August 15th. As such, this challenge will be in 2 phases. Phase 2 is just... After baby comes out, survival mode. Let people know baby has arrived. Get everyone, humans and animals, fed, get everyone at least some sleep, and make sure everyone has some level of cleanliness. Phase 1 is a little more detailed and what the rest of this post is about! Goal 1: Nest We still have a ton we COULD do and a couple things that are at least near-critical to do before baby arrives. This is the list that brings me from "I wish I had scheduled a 39 week induction" to "nevermind I need more TIME." Goals are generally in order from most to least critical. Looks like there are 11 critical items and 10 non-critical items. ✅ Done ☑️ Started More critical and baby-specific • Install car seat • Pack hospital bag ☑️ • Finish getting nursery ready ☑️ • Put waterproof protector on bed ✅ • Get new washer/dryer delivered (delivery Saturday the 29th) • Print home help list and put up in entryway ✅ • Finish filling out leave requests ✅ • Call insurances • Put $ in IRA (so we qualify for less expensive insurance for baby) • Address and stamp envelopes for announcements ☑️ • Write and send our shower thank-you cards☑️ Less critical and more getting-house-ready • Change fridge filter • Set up autopay for garbage service ✅ • Set up autopay for minimum payment on credit card (so sleepy parent brains don't cause us to get hit with huge penalties) ✅ • Tidy up hallway bathroom • Vacuum and tidy bedroom • Stock up on cat food and litter ✅ • Clean and put fresh litter in all litter boxes • Do all laundry • Clean fish tank • Clean snake tanks Goal 2: Rest and get happy chemicals flowing I keep hearing that to help encourage labor you should be relaxed and have oxytocin going. Plus I'm off work and about to undergo a biiiig change. So I'm going to put some self care on the books. • Try and get a nap in every day. • Schedule a pedicure. I normally wouldn't do this for myself but I have a gift card! • Schedule a haircut. Optional but I realized my split ends were getting wild again and I dont think I've gotten a trim for hmmm 4-6 months? • Request massages from Mr. Griz on a regular basis. Goal 3: Low-key not strictly relaxing maybe labor inducing activities, maybe making labor easier activities? Every day I should: • Go for a walk • Eat 6 dates • Spend 30 minutes to 1 hour bouncing/rocking on the yoga ball. • Spinning babies daily activities

This challenge is about inhabiting my authentic self. I’ve earned every grey hair, every laugh line, and every scar. The only thing that can stop me is me. Intelligence: Open Canvas daily; Read 30 minutes an evening. Strength: Go to work without getting caught up in the chaos Wisdom: Loosening the hold of debt Constitution: Eating good food every day; Acupuncture; therapy; daily medications Charisma: Sleep, sauna, steps, sociability Dexterity: Stay nimble and hold emotions loosely; stay with the Spirit of my tribe. Opening Stats Con 7 Str 6 Int 8 Dex 9 Wis 9 Cha 8 Closing Stats Con 8 Str 7 Int 10 Dex 10 Wis 10 Cha 9

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.

So I bought myself a beautiful rose gold Clever Fox Wellness journal that last six months. Technically I'll start using the wellness journal in July which is also my birthday (I turn 45). But since the challenge started now, and since I am starting on Diet #456,872 today anyway, I'll consider theses last two weeks in June as prepping. The Wellness Journal has space for 5 goals to make over the 6 months. Weight: <134 (this requires a 40 pound weight loss). Flexibility: Touch Toes (with legs only slightly bend, chest against thighs). Strength: Intermediate 1RM (per strengthlevel.com) for my age and gender. Fitness: 3.5 mile hike with 2,000 elevation gain (drop my time by 1-2 fitness levels) Ying Yang: Achieve balance in other areas of my life (instead of focusing exclusively on things I want to do and neglecting things I need to do) NFR Part 1 Goals (first 2 weeks): 1) Get out of the 170's. Action Steps: a) Don't Snack in the Evenings b) Stick to Plan on Weekends c) Strength Train 4x a week Establish Habits: Drink 50oz water a day Drink Vega shake Drink Collagen Get 60+ grams protein A work project that's lasted the better part of the last 5 years should FINALLY be coming to a close at the end of next week as well, which will allow more time for me to actually devote health and wellness (and weight loss). NFR Part 1 Goals (final 3 weeks): 1) Get back to 162 (which is where I was the better part of Fall 2022) Action Steps: a) Don't Snack in the Evenings b) Stick to Plan on Weekends c) Strength Train 4x a week Establish Habits: Increase Steps (I seem to average 4,000) Yoga video (Hamstrings) Tai Chi Sword video (Mental Wellbeing/Balance)

When does this one end? Late July? From now to then: Continued yoga 5 - 6 days a week Finish my holiday me-made wardrobe bits (sewing a tea length dress, drafting and sewing a circle dress, sewing a crop top, drafting, sewing and ruching another top, fixing a hem). Holiday in Greece & meeting up with our very own @DarK_RaideR Studying? Maybe? Prep for the next big curveball I’ve decided to throw myself …. A 200Hr Yoga Teacher Training course. I’ve got a list of required reading to do before early August, and a few things to grab for the trip. I’m sure I should have more goals or things to keep in mind, but I’ve had squirrel brain all day and am doing well to not spin out.

There's been a recurring theme in recent challenges: I have a good plan, tailored to my current circumstances. Two weeks into the challenge, circumstances change. I spend the last three weeks of the challenge attempting to stick to my original plan, which is of course, pure garbage given the set of circumstances in which I currently find myself. So I did a branch analysis on myself. What it tells me is that my plans are fragile. So for this challenge, I'm going to pursue the same plan but put more energy into addressing the presumptive root causes of the failures. Here's the plan, which is framed around elemental magic: Water Prime my personal energy by proper hydration — packing water, limiting caffeine intake, and minimizing alcohol and other diuretic fluids. Past Performance: 3 of 5 Fragility: Defaulting to coffee (rooted in preference for hot drinks) Trial: Pack a non-caffeinated, non-dehydrating, non-grody tea as an alternative to coffee #2,3,4,...,n. Fire Build energy by balancing macros and food intake for target BMR — packing lunch daily, sticking to the 7pm cutoff, and minimizing processed foods. Past Performance: 4 of 5 Fragility: Contact with food through kitchen cleanup, next-day prep, etc.. Trial: Say no to leftovers. You are not the family goat. Earth Build core strength and stability through Pilates and yoga. 4x weekly for 30 minutes is the goal. Past Performance: 2 of 5 Fragility: Incorrect scheduling (this should be the afternoon workout) Trial: Reschedule to afternoon workout. Air Increase aerobic fitness through running or alternative cardio, utilizing the maximum aerobic fitness framework of 80% work below threshold heart rate. 4x weekly = 3 slow easy runs and one intense interval or tempo run. Past Performance: 4 of 5 Fragility: Incorrect scheduling, as above. This is further rooted in a tendency to sleep through the morning workout window, so I scheduled this later to avoid missing it. But really, this should be the morning workout. Trial: Correct sleep hygiene. Ether Daily meditation and/or contemplative prayer. Two long opportunities: morning at work and evening before bed. Warrior’s meditation (Micro-meditations using vagal breathing) throughout the day. Past Performance: 5 of 5 Fragility: I've been doing consistently well here. Trial: Keep it up; monitor for second-order effects from other adjustments. Healing Be a healer in all domains of life: Sleep 8 hours. Eat restfully. Move fluidly. Listen attentively. Speak melodically. Return to kindness. Past Performance: 1 of 5 Fragility: A lot of failure here, but mostly rooted in sleep hygiene. Particularly: late bedtime, and using the phone in bed. This is exacerbated by late eating. Trial: Set the phone to require passwords to use apps after 9:00 and put the charger on the dresser. This is to force electronic shut down earlier, encourage actual reading, and make me get up to turn off the alarm. ] Good luck, everyone!

June 11th-July 22nd Heidi Vision: The World is What We Make It I enacted a lot of things last round with physical, real-world, tangible, concrete results. Lots of stuff got dealt with, some really physical (and often sweaty) labor to get rid of what was dragging me backwards. Now, the air is clear, and there’s space for vision, those invisible, woo woo, creative forays of the Spirit. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of work to do and things to deal with, but the (physical and emotional) space from which I approach real life and all its foibles is one of openness and availability, a creative space that invites the work of opportunity. The road map for this challenge has enough structure to generate its own path, with work and summer class churning through the days as though they are competing to see who can take up more space. It will require nimbleness to dance this dance, and if I fall behind in school, it will be hellish to make up the missed steps, since we start deep and go fast for 8 weeks. My challenge is to stay light on my feet and to hold the details loosely; juggling while walking a tightrope over a canyon requires staying loose. As I begin the journey this challenge, I have my metaphorical bag packed with some spiritual tools, a program map, and companionship. The Road Map Visit School: Open Canvas daily; Read for class at least 30 minutes an evening; post every Monday and Friday; Papers every week Intelligence Go to the Office: About ten hours a day, without getting caught up in any of the chaos. Strength Refuel: Vegetables delivery every Tuesday means setting up bread dough and baking to offer as an exchange; Milk pickup on Wednesday; Eating good food every day Constitution Regular Tune Up: Acupuncture; therapy; daily medications; Constitution Warm up your engines! Morning sauna and walk before hitting the laptop or the books Constitution Cool your jets: good sleep every night Constitution Travel Light: loosening the hold of debt Wisdom Postcards along the way: Some sort of social time daily Charisma Clean out the trunk: Apartment therapy; Regular weekly cleaning Charisma Spirit of Adventure: Emotionally balanced, staying between the lines, in my own lane, and all that, while also relishing the journey that I’m on and the possibilities that it brings. Dexterity The 2023 Skills Tree as of now: Con 5 Str 5 Dex 8 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

This is going to be my last full challenge before I have a baby. I'm due August 12th!!! It's unlikely but not remotely impossible that I could have the baby THIS challenge. But let's all just hope she stays in there until at least the very end of the challenge so she's at least at early term and also for logistical reasons. Basically this whole challenge is just baby prep. There's a lot to do so this is... Extensive. Fortunately some of it is stuff that can be checked off if done by me OR Mr. Griz OR my parents or in laws who are going to help out around the house. Body Prep I signed up for a at your own pace prenatal pilates class and kind of stopped doing it? I managed to get back on it the last week of last challenge. This is a recommit. I should be able to finish the 8 week course by the end of the challenge. There are 4 workouts a week, which I'll do on my days where I'm not working - Friday through Monday. If I miss a day, I'll bring my workout clothes to work on Wednesday and do one then. I'm also attending some classes which focus on physical preparation - a pelvic floor class and a birth positions workshop. Objectives are met if I • Have gone to the in person classes (unless baby shows up before them or they get cancelled) • Get through 1 week of pilates class each week until either the challenge ends or baby arrives (including in week 0). Edit: Not doing all the workouts anymore. I do plan to get through all the other course content and any workouts that DON'T aggravate my SPD. Mind Prep This is all the other classes. There is a birthing class, which is five weeks and I believe four hours each which includes a hypno birthing prep component I believe (if this is incorrect, as a sub I'll find and do a on my own hypno birthing thingy of some kind, probably). There's also a baby care class and postpartum prep class. Objectives are met if I • Get to all the classes or all the classes before baby arrives. • Practice hypno birthing techniques daily - I already do daily meditation so kind of subbing this in doesn't feel like a stretch. House Prep Traditional nesting! Best listed as individual goals. • The room where the crib will be is decluttered and the trim removed when I was redoing the floor is reinstalled. I actually started working on this the other day so I'm pretty close on it. • The crib and changing area are set up and accessible. • Each distinct room/space in the house that I expect I'll want to use during immediate postpartum has been cleaned to a standard I find acceptable. There are 6 spaces not including the nursery, which I think is covered by the above. Objectives are met if: • All 7 rooms I can look at and confidently say "yep, this is ready for me to take care of a baby in." Money Prep The last week of the challenge is scheduled to be my last week before maternity leave! How convenient! If I'm feeling really good I might do one more week tacked onto the end, since that's all one pay period/hours tracking period anyway. I am scheduled for 20 hours a week but trying to work 25 a week in order to build up pre worked time for paid leave. So like... Do that. I also need to open an IRA so I can put like $500 for the year into it so that I'm making under the threshold to qualify for CHP+ (Colorado's health insurance for children in families making less than like, median income I think?) Then I want to make sure that CHP+ paperwork is as filled out as possible before birth so I can submit it when baby has an official legal name and birth certificate. I need to contact mine and my husband's insurance, both to confirm how to put the baby onto one of our insurances in the event we're for some reason denied for CHP+ and to figure out how they do billing for the kid before they are on health insurance. There's some nonsense with a birthday rule or something? Objectives are met if: • I... Continue to go to work 3 days a week until I start leave or have a baby? • I opened an IRA and put in as much as I need to to qualify for CHP+. • We have the CHP+ forms filled out as much as I can. • We call up insurance and figure out anything specific we may have to do when baby comes. Miscellaneous other things happening in the next month and a half: • Pre-baby BBQ. Ummm probably should get these invites sent. • Prenatal meetings x2 with Doula. • See if we can bring the cats to their yearly vet appointment early or late or what because right now that would be like, on my due date. Um no.

I was only going to lurk this challenge, after completely forgetting challenges were a thing I was checking on during the last cycle and then missing my Nerds. I successfully lurked for like 3 days. And then FOMO SHINY RACCOON BRAIN STARTED SCREAMING AT ME DURING BREAKFAST. Warning: Raccoon brain is still in full effect. I make no promise any sentences I’m about to type make any damn sense. Yo … Yo … Breakfast is nice, but …. We need a June sewing project. I should make a shirt. I hate shirts. I probably can’t have only dresses in my wardrobe. I have no more room for dresses. *Stage WhIsPeR* But … what if we make a mini capsule wardrobe for our upcoming vacation since we’ve been spinning our wheels and hate all shirts in existence that don’t either cost $400, exist only in Japan or the Ukraine, only exist in digital form, or are so damn simple we can just make it ourself? Like seriously. I’ve been all over the damn Internet and 3 malls and there are only like 20 shirt designs out there right now - 10 came straight from 2007, and the other 10 are dead simple shirred cottage core looks I’m either loving or hating depending on the moment. Raccoon brain would not let me treadmill at the gym post-breakfast. WE COULD MAKE LIKE ELEVENDY THINGS Raccoon brain needed to ensconce itself in a nest of electronic devices in the lounge to draw. (I’m off again in my favorite place on Earth - just a slightly different hotel with no Starbucks) Raccoon brain forgot I can’t draw a straight line for shit and get annoyed at my handwriting on screen. Raccoon brain cobbled a workable holiday wardrobe in like an hour. Or two. I barely know what damn time it is. Ooh. And then I finished the really cool online course I started this week on creating digital floral patterns for print on fabric or other goods. This came about because I suuuuuuuuuuuuper hate all the patterns that aren’t geometric I can find at the shops - or I hate the colors because they’re not black - and DH thinks I should try to create a houndstooth-but-make-it-dachshund print. Which is hurting my brain. So. I took a pattern making course to figure out how to even make a pattern for fabric, by the chick who has the free tutorials I’ve been using to learn how to draw on the iPad in the first place. Not sure if I’ll ever actually use these skills, but it’s a thought. And something I can practice toward. I also learned how to do mock-ups in Procreate, so if I ever did want to Etsy the cards and art shit I’ve been making, I could. Maybe. Not sure how I’d actually ship items, though. Anyways. A brief catch-up because I can’t remember when I ghosted last challenge. RHOD (Real Housewives Of Doha - aka my expats behaving badly drinking group) friends came in to town to celebrate one of the group’s 50th. Three of us shut the bar down on 3 separate occasions that week and hung out for dry breakfasts a couple times. A good time was had by all. I bailed on yoga every day I was either busy or hung over, which was most days last week. Or the week before since this is actually Monday. This last week, I’ve been in the Happiest Place On Earth - taking my course, hitting the gym for at least :30 on a scenic zippy walk program every day but the longer mall walk day, and crocheting - then destroying - a project I hated. And planning our next vacation - to Greece - where we aim to meet up with @DarK_RaideR Excited is an understatement. Hence the manic crafting plans. And I broadly sketched out like everything in a couple hours without the 2 months of intensive underpants collecting I normally go through. Thinking about AI taking my damn job potential still hurts my heart’s feelings, but I broke down and put an itinerary request into Google Bard - and it wasn’t terrible. I used like a tenth of it, but it was … interesting. I like my underpants, though. I then limited myself to 3 ‘this is the ultimate list of shit to do in Athens+’ and the suggestions a friend sent, and I was off. Remembering this is July and the entirety of the UK is like to descend upon Greece like a horde of sunburnt sausages, I preliminary booked tours for the biggie sites we wanted to see that involve small groups + waaaaaaaay too early for my liking times in the hopes to avoid said hordes for the nerdy parts. Of course, we are also in talks with a tattoo studio I’ve been Insta-stalking for years …. But this is about the patterns! Bummer. Freeform won’t easily export a good file. This is my chicken-scratch plan, and it even includes a COLOR and a PATTERN. *pats self on back* - let’s see if I can physically purchase fabric in a bright color and/or a pattern. Or, if I can even find such a thing. - Updates may be infrequent, but I’m aiming to lurk daily at least.

Something has changed. The ground is no longer shaking, walls of the temple is no longer rattling, and the storm appears to have slowed down. Even the rain is letting up. Cautiously, careful not to expose herself to any surprise attacks, Scalyfreak slowly pulls the temple door open an peers out at a world that looks very different. The earthquakes have changed the outline of the horizon. Where the forest stood previously, now sits a valley, and the small lake has drained and looks like it's well on its way to becoming a bog. The stream that supplies the temple with fresh water has by some miracle escaped unscathed... in fact, everything close to the temple is entirely undamaged. The rest of the world however, is irrevocably changed. Old maps no longer apply. Or do they? The world has changed, it hasn't been recreated. The forest sunk into a valley, but the forest is still there. The lake slowly turning into a bog is still technically a body of water, of a kind, in the same location. Scalyfreak sits down on the steps by the temple's front door, spreads there old map across her lap, and begins scribbling notes around all the map details visible around her. Before diving straight this challenge period, here's a brief “intro” for anyone who doesn't know me very well: I am late to this challenge period because I chose to face Procrastination on other battle fields than this one during Week 1 and Zero Week. I'm fine with ceding this particular ground to her, in exchange for victory against her in every area related to the new job that I start tomorrow (=Monday of Week 2). Starting a new job means boss fight against Stress-Hydra, and that in turn means preparing diligently and pay attention to buffs and healing during the battle. It also means going back to the basics, which works out very nicely for me since that's what I was doing last challenge. Activate daily resilience buff in the morning ...by meditating every morning. The Insight Timer app will provide guided meditation tracks and (of course) a timer for this. Cast healing spells during the day ...by going outside at least once every day. Going with the Happy Sidekick is preferable, though at her age and with the state of her arthritis, walks with her are too slow and short to count as actual exercise. However, the purpose of this walk isn't exercise. This walk is done for mental health reasons. Apply Regeneration talisman in the evening I have three different talismans to choose from, and only one is required to meet this goal. 1. FTS - Fantastical Talisman of Sarcasm – a very snarky gratitude journal with pre-printed prompts 2. WTF - Wondrous Talisman of Fire-fighting – a regular lined notebook, that I use with worksheets helpfully provided to me by the therapist I worked with for the past couple of months. 3. ETC - Exhausting Talisman of Cardio – an elliptical, strategically placed at a near-perfect viewing angle to the TV in the living room.

Goodday folks, So uh. Life is hectic but slowly finally calming down. I switched places of residence for the 3rd time in the past 1,5 year last month. I have a rental contract for 2 years where I am now, whew. Fitness status That does mean I'm still not there yet with deciding where I want to sign up for... Whatever sport I settle on. And I still need to take a moment to figure out how I can strength train at home easily. As I wrote this, I actually got an idea or two, which is great. I'm so glad our forum still gets maintained ❤️ I have been better and better about picking up my meditation practice. Did morning yoga nearly every morning last week. My hypermobility issues had their moments, but not terrible ones going by the fact that I could still keep on wearing heels no problem. I'm stiff as fuck but that'll work itself out, I'm feeling it already. I've been out quite a lot in the past month, which means dancing and walking. It's great. Spring is really here where I am right now. Fitness goals As for challenge goals, I'd like to keep checking in here for the healthy environment. Keep on going with my yoga practice. I want to check out the tennis lessons in the area. That'd be fun. I've had some tennis during my studies and during high school. Life goals - Learning how to: people SOOO as you may have gathered, the real matter on my mind right now is learning how to people. When my last relationship ended and I decided to go on a dating moratorium to figure my toxic patterns out, comfortable in the knowledge,... "knowledge" that my friendships ARE healthy... I found out that I'd overestimated how healthy they were haha. Not just on my side, but also on the other side with one friend, my closest one. I'd just been too busy with my family drama, my obsessive mother, to notice. My general boundary setting skills trickled over to those friendships, and in some ways I took more space because I asked friends for help, and things changed in perspective shifting ways. My closest one is actually the least likely to continue on based on what I'm getting from her (though we need to talk to figure that out). I've been working on the others. And I've been making new friends. Tangentially I've also been navigating inter colleague relationships in ways I've never done, for example at school and university. Sounds like an open door but I usually like to apply similar principles in new "sorta formal/sorta informal" situations but now. It's so different. It's all been very refreshing to navigate with my new insights, also from therapy. I went on a couple of dates that went so entirely different than what I've been used to. Learning new things about myself and what I want, who I am. All of this is great but it's also making me rather insecure about everything I thought I knew about interpersonal contact/communication :') So I'm going to go ahead and start reading articles on those things. And applying lessons that seem useful asap, see how things go. My biggest, most impactful lesson of the past 2-3 years has been allowing myself to experiment and explore freely. It's great. But if I'd said this to me of 5 years ago I don't think I would have been able to feel it. I was in survival mode. Now I still am but in different ways. So yeah. Probably going to document my journey about that here. Good times are ahead! Finances, getting stuff that is mine I've never been without stuff, really. But my things rarely felt mine because yeah. Emotionally abusive household, hurrah. I left a loooot at my parental home last year. No furniture besides two night cabinets. Safe to say I'm glad I'm not too shabby at saving. Another thing is that I'm building my wardrobe back up to where I like it. My job and desired social & exercise life requires some purchases (and my fun levels require some make-up and cosmetics now that my brain is freeing up and I'm taking care of myself the way I enjoy). All of this requires careful monitoring without straining myself so bad I spiral. Woohoo!

Hellooo. Still bad at keeping my challenges updated but still doing it! I'm 26 weeks pregnant so halfway through the challenge I'll be in 3rd trimester. Whooooah. Keeping it simple. 1 - prenatal pilates. I'm doing a program which I started last challenge, and am already somehow way behind. I'm only on week 2, but the workouts are so much longer than what I had been doing! I would like to get through week 5 by the end of the challenge. 2 - walking! It's finally consistently nice out. I want to go for a walk every day, or putter around the yard 3 - drink water. Keep water bottle clean and full and with me. Side goals/mini-goals/non-health goals * Update here twice a week. * More actively follow other journals. * Get all collected baby clothes and washable fabrics washed and put away... I need some variety of dresser. * Plant my tomatoes and peppers outside.