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Hello. I am Stronkey Kong. Umm... Been on NF over seven years. I'm still fat and making the best of it. Which means I'm tempering my goals, accepting what is and what is not (feasibly and sustainably) possible. I eat as healthy as I can while enjoying my food. I move as often as I can while enjoying movement. I think. I create. I devise elaborate plans for challenges and eschew all rules as soon as convenience dictates. <sigh> This challenge is inspired by a recent dream I had. This is one of my stress dreams. It came after spending a week switching to day shift, rather abruptly, after having been on night shift for over a year, going to a training course across town, then coming back to work to find out that someone more senior than me, and training/guiding me at work is leaving in another week and then I'm pretty much on my own kinda. Idk. This is gonna get tough. I suppose the point/meaning of this dream, if they do have meanings, is that I need to avoid quick fixes and work on my coping mechanisms ahead of stressors. Then there's the fact that I'm turning my attention back to mindfulness and my Buddhist practice. I have dabbled and practiced with varying degrees of seriousness in Zen. I'm currently learning about Tibetan Buddhism and reading and meditating on Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, and am planning to get back into my meditation routine. If you've never heard the term, Bodhisattvas are beings who have attained enlightenment, but rather than pursuing full Buddhahood (where you get to just chill out in Nirvana for eternity, free from suffering) they choose to return to Samsara (the eternal cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth) to guide other beings on the path to enlightenment. Hence, they are good examples to follow for freeing oneself from suffering and helping others. I could go on on this topic, but I'll leave it there for now. I just thought I'd let you know why I named my challenge as I did. And then there's the Big List... which I made during the Holiday challenge as a set of goals to pursue long term. From this list I usually create a goal or two from something on the list to work toward, and lately I usually focus on Intuitive Eating, Exercise, Creativity, and buying a home. My goals are listed in order of general priority. I'm putting the TL;DR up front and spoilering the details to tidy things up here: TL;DR Mindfulness: daily meditation with increasing session times Lotus Position: stretch to improve lotus posture during meditation Nourishment: Eat mindfully and watch out for GERD symptoms Movement: Qigong Abode: spring cleaning Creativity: Knit a Beanie or Finish part one of my fantasy novel Wisdom: Study The Way of the Bodhisattva Knowledge: study Tibetan language

I'm Stronkey Kong -- neutral good human/wizard adventurer/warrior hybrid. I made a list for Santa during the holiday challenge. That is now 'The Big List' that I'm trying to achieve goals on to improve life, health, and fitness. Right now the big things on my plate are strength training, getting outdoors and walking/hiking, cooking/eating healthier, painting/drawing, and buying a home (my Wizard's tower). I left off last challenge building a foundation of barbel training, batch cooking, and just put an offer on a house. Here's the big list: (spoilered cuz it's a big list) And here's what I'm focusing on for this challenge. Intuitive Eating: Keep batch cooking tasty, healthy meals Start food journaling, Bujo portions and notes on mood, energy, etc. Intuitive Exercising: Keep up the barbell program 2+ times /week Ruck (>= 1 mi) or walk (>= 2 mi) 1+ times/week Painting and drawing: Ahh.... just keep going. But especially with the ink drawings right now because that makes me focus... cuz you only get one chance with ink. Buying my Wizard's Tower: This one's an ongoing to-do list Satisfy requirements for loan Gather documents Do taxes Complete first-time homeowner class(es?) Realtor/Property Search Look at moar houses. Work and save Respond to shop manager about the lab position Tax returns: Set aside a portion for first-time homeowner classes Save the rest

It's been a while since I re-introduced myself. I'm Stronkey Kong (for now). Over the 7+ years I've been on the NF forums, I've previously been known as (from most to least recent) Chris Tarly, Brogo, Curl Brogo, and Darwin's Demon. The focus of most of my previous challenges has been some combination of gaining strength and losing weight. While I've got some benefits from strength training, my weight loss battle is mostly a losing battle full of frustrations. Recently I've been reading about Intuitive eating and Health at Every Size, and have been focusing health and being more active. I used the holiday challenge to outline some big goals (aka the big list): (spoilered cuz the list is long) I'm gonna keep this list around so I can edit it and add ideas. The big overarching challenge now is that I need to start working more hours since it supports a number of my life goals like creating more paintings (buying supplies and a DSLR camera) and saving up to buy a house. I'm going to have to shoot to start working 45 hours a week to be able to save what I need to. For the challenge I'm gonna take some of the main, long-term goals, the pick one goal for each to work on to make progress toward the big one. So here they are: Become an intuitive eater -- Buy and prep a variety of satisfying, healthy foods for my lunches I take to work. Become an intuitive exerciser At least 20 min of daily movement Keep creating -- Hyperrealistic paintings Three times a week, work on painting and drawing (drawing practice, prepping canvas, anything) Buy my Wizard's Tower Stay on top of my to-do list: Gather documents for loan agent meeting Loan agent meeting on Jan 6 Work (45+ hours a week) and save according to plan