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Hi Everyone! I have been reading today as a reward for finishing NaNo yesterday and I stumbled across my word for 2023 in this article: Lagom. It is Swedish, and means "just enough" as in the Goldilocks philosophy of things being "just right". This concept feels like exactly what I need right now and I am glad that I crossed paths with it while I was in an open-hearted mentality. My goals for this mini challenge are "just enough" Movement: Aiming for 15-30 minutes of moving around a day. This can be cleaning, Supernatural, walking, dancing, pacing, anything as long as I am not sitting. Food: Aiming for 2-3 meals a day, or two meals and a snack. Giving up on breakfast for now because it just doesn't seem to be working. Plants: Aiming for a decent sized portion of non-starch plant foods in two meals a day. Creativity: Aiming for 30+ minutes of creative work a day. This can be continuing Halcyon, prepping D&D, painting minis, working with my new Tarot, starting up a new journal/sketchbook, baking, etc, as long as I am creating something. Expansion: Looking for other jobs as they come up in the job search database and applying to the ones I am interested in. Luxury: It is the holidays! So there will be lovely food and drink, movies, hot baths, good music, time with friends... all the celebratory things. But I need to be sure that I am having just enough and not too much of the delicious, sedentary, or social. My Gramparents are coming up to see us and the house either December 11th or December 18th and then my Parents will come up after Christmas for two days. I want the house to be presentable and to have some baking done that I can share. I need to make and action plans for those things to happen. I also would like to get my holiday cards sorted out sooner rather than later. I think that is it! Looking forward to celebrating the season with you! Let me know if you want a card! ❤️

I missed you! (Thank you Salinger for getting my ass back here!) Im fighting the ear infection from hell. my ear is so swollen that my face isn't symmetrical anymore... crap! ( saw a doc twice and am treated. it just doesnt get better) My counselor tells me to chill the fuck out. She and I think that Ive reached important goals. And I will be here to keep up the work and look for joy and happiness in what I've created for me. I live such a privileged life, being able to do whatever I want, during my days. I work 3 hours a day max.. I made my most important weightloss goal, I stood up after back surgery, recovered like a boss and made it back to cross fit! Its time to shut up about not doing enough and just to enjoy what I have build. but fearless, when you are here you need to have goals!? you ask well my goal is to enjoy what I am building for myself. I want to get up in the mornings exited to start the day! I do not want to push myself further at the moment. intentions: ( totally stole that from you, Iatheyeti ) develop a morning and evening ritual that covers all the fun things you want to do ( stretch, meditate, journal) see if you can include a daily writing hour in your day without stressing about it keep up cross fit 2x /week ( once recovered from the plague of the ear) keep eating healthy keto meals and prepping them to make it easier make sure dog child is happy make sure you are happy

Hello Friends and Nerds! I'm annyshay. I'm an adventurer at heart, and I'm going to spend this challenge with the druids. I'm finally starting to see the end of a long, deep depression, so I am prioritizing my mental health. I'm working to maintain my current habits and expand the last one. Mindset Pack - every morning - meditate - joy journaling - intention mantra Compassion - at least once per day show compassion to my inner child Drop into Body - every evening Allons-y!

Welcome to SPRING! As we stretch out of the darker season, let’s join together in gratitude. Science has shown that being actively grateful can have tremendous positive effects on our health and well being, and the more we study gratitude, the more benefits we find. The basic takeaway is very simple: Be thankful to be happy. “People who regularly practice gratitude by taking time to notice and reflect upon the things they're thankful for experience more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems.” Being thankful, genuinely grateful for what we have, has an immediate and profound impact on our sense of well being. It even helps increase our financial balances, by making us less inclined to spend. “Grateful people report themselves as being less materialist and less envious. In particular, grateful people report being more willing to part with their possessions, more generous with them, less envious of the material wealth of others, less committed to the idea that material wealth brings happiness. Apparently, material success is not a very important factor in the happiness of highly grateful people.” Robert Emmons, author of Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, shows that simply keeping a gratitude journal—regularly writing brief reflections on moments for which we’re thankful—can significantly increase well-being and life satisfaction. Let’s focus on gratitude this spring, and find balance at the equinox. Want to join in the fun? Post something you are grateful for and why it matters to you. Start today, and post at least one thing. Aim for one thing a day, but don’t let a missed day stop you from coming back and posting. Keep track of how many posts you made by number each successive post. We’re going to do this for the coming three weeks, so add the suffix “/21” to each number, so that we can keep it in context. I’ll post prompts along the way, but listen to your inner voice. People report that the continuity of gratitude and the depth of emotion are the real key to success here. So post away! At the end of the mini-challenge, we’ll talk about what you noticed, and what these insights have led to, if anything. !

Hey. Psst! Yeah, you. Do you want to know a secret? Come, pull up a chair, scooch it close; let me tell you what I know. It won’t take long, because it isn’t much: LOVE IS GREATER THAN FEAR. Let me pour you some tea while you think that over, because that’s it; that’s all I know. I have spent a lifetime looking for answers, thinking I found them, watching them crumble or dissolve or simply disappear. But not love; never love. And it’s possible that the Beatles were right all along, that love really is all you need. Now, I’m not talking about the kind of love when a seventeen year old boy kisses a sixteen year old girl on a summer evening. That’s amazing and all, but that’s not the universe-centering sort of love that I’m on about. I’m talking about the love that comes from the core of your body and radiates into everything, without end, beyond the outer edges of Kuiper belt, still going strong, without taking anything out of you, never depleting, only connecting and lifting you higher. That kind of love softens everything before it, warms everything it touches, breathes life and fresh air all around. And it’s ours, whenever we want it. It is there in the grass, in every argument, no matter how far off track we have gotten. It is there in the wind, in the rain, in cubicle farm. Take a sip of tea. Love is in there too, and if you feel for it, you can feel fear and hurt recede, melt away. This challenge is about living in love, that kind of love, every day, even when I’m angry or hurting. Especially when I’m angry and hurting. Join me, if you care too. It’s simple; it’s free. It’s not exactly easy, but what is that is worthwhile? Either way, enjoy the tea.

Not entirely relevant to the Challenge itself, but kind of important. There might be some SongSpam this time around just because I decided to make a Positive Song Playlist. For, uh, science. <.< Anyway. Recap: Week One was okay last time, Week Two was Better, and then I epically crashed and burned in Week Three under the weight of feelings I still don't fully understand. This whole 'life' thing just sometimes feels like more than I'm interested in dealing with. As typically happens, that particular thought is now receding and the motivation to Do All The Things is returning. I'm not going to count my last Challenge as a success, because that would be a lie, but I'm also not going to dwell on defeat and instead of spending more time feeling bad about it am going to Get Up and Try Again. Goals: This time, I'm between changes. Life has recently been irreversibly altered, and more change is coming up, though hopefully in a happier context. Big steps where school is concerned, life in general. So the focus will be quite basic, pretty much the same goals as always. Better emotional stability would be a nice payoff. And speaking of emotions, theme time! This movie punched me repeatedly before the credits rolled. Set Up: Five characters, five categories. The aim is to earn one point per category per day. No weekday-only restrictions this time, so there won't be that to think about. Much more flexibility than I usually give myself. Zero Week will be even more flexible because there's a lot to do this week aside from Challenge things, but I need to get going again as soon as possible. Zero Week will not be scored, but I will be starting my Tasks nonetheless. Potential Points: 140 I wanted to do the Islands thing, too, but couldn't think of how that would work or what to do with it, so, not doing that. Staying bare-bones, super basic. GIFs are welcome and encouraged even if totally unrelated to the theme. Let the silliness commence.

Hello Everybody, My name is Aaron, a little about my self and my journey. I was one of those kids that played sports all throughout my child hood, So I'm not a stranger to physical activity. I played football, wrestled, and played lacrosse, when I wasn't involved in sports I was totally nerding out on video games and comic books. After high school I joined the Marines and served my country for six years and was deployed to a combat theater on three separate occasions. During this time I was probably in the best cardio shape I had ever been, weighing in at about 170, Most of my life I have been a chubbier kid but I always had a good strong foundation under the layers of mountain dew and cool ranch doritos. I left the military due to a medical separation, I tore every ligament in my left knee and have no cartilage left and have had four surgeries to correct this issue. As you can imagine this played havoc on my work out routine or really doing anything physically active. Even through that I still managed to stay in the gym and make some gains but I never really achieved the results I wanted because my diet was probably the worst it could have been. I got married at 29 and started a new job, this new job required me to be on the road for months at a time. During this time my diet took a turn for the worse(worse than before) and I ballooned up. When I got home from traveling my ex wife didn't recognize me and let me say she was no longer interested in me. That feeling of her being uninterested lasted for a long time and she finally decided to call it quits last July and moved out. The divorce was finalized in Sept. and I kind of went into a free for all of depression, anxiety, which was compounded by PTSD. I was like this for months, until my 32 Bday in Jan I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that this was the person that I became and I didn't like it one bit. So I snapped a before picture to remind myself of what not to let happen again. So I went back to what I knew best, lifting weights. It worked well for a few weeks, I got stronger and my fat clothes finally werent being stretched to the max. I was kind of just fumbling my way through. Then I came accross NERD FITNESS and I was instantly intrigued and figured I would read through the page and gain a lot of knowledge. I was really impressed by how thorough and complete and fun the site was. I have been a member of Bodybuilding.com since it came out although its a great resource I didn't feel like I fit in that culture. So after immersing myself into this site and the Paleo diet I can say since Jan, I've gone from 5'9 267 to 5'9 214 and have gotten really strong. I couldn't have done it with out this website and am very happy to finally be joining the community. Thanks for letting me let some steam out, -Aaron "Winter is coming..."

I did a huge amount of work last year, and just as we left the short, dark days behind us, I felt as though I had truly turned a major corner in my life, heading toward the light personally as well as with the seasons. The accomplishments and insights have been a game-changer personally, and I am ready to begin a new chapter in my life story, and I’m interested to see what this path brings. However much work was already done, work isn’t over and done with; far from it in fact. Instead of doing the same things I had been focused on all last year, and improving with, I will be taking on a new set of tasks and challenges and obstacles this year. While I’m excited, I’m also a little intimidated, since new tasks are easy to fail because of the lack of familiarity and fluency. So, like any good adventuring druid, I’m going to need to check in with the basics as I start out. Mind This challenge will see the last six weeks of my paralegal studies. I have a lot of work in these classes yet to do, and I need to wind it up so I can start something else. Classes every week, with homework and tests and projects and exams along the way. Graduate. WIS +2 I have a new job! This means I will be learning a whole bunch of new stuff on a daily basis. Heaven help me. I’m going to have to focus. I’ll probably end up taking notes. Job 5x/weekWIS +2 Therapy: the family will continue to be in therapy for this challenge (and through to summer). We are getting our legs under us and doing well, but it’s still work and we seem to learn stuff every week, which is good, but takes a lot of reflection and attention. Therapy 4x/week WIS +1 Body: Be good to your Sim every day! Rest: Get to bed on time. Every Day. CON +1 Food: Eat often. I almost always eat well, but the job and routine change will create havoc with my system, so I will need to remember to pack snacks and eat them. Every Day CON +1 Water: The stuff of life. Make sure you get at least 2L since there will be more coffee than ever with the workplace. Every Day CON +1 I like to move it move it! Specifically, I will need to be mindful of walking, since having an office job will definitely put a crimp on my freedom to go hit the greenway. Goal: No less than 6250 steps a day. 7500 would be better. Every Day STA +1 Strive: It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t add in something new. I have contacted some former colleagues to arrange a carpool for going to kung fu three times a week. 3x/week STR +1 Soul Clean up the clutter Every day. STA +2 Find Quiet Time Every day. STA +3 BONUS: Life is expensive, and it has lots of paperworkSet up auto savings Set up direct deposit Make a budget for 2015 File taxes for 2014

There are so many things going on in my life for the next eight weeks that I have decided to focus on fit and fun elements of my world, starting now (week 0) and going to the week beyond the challenge (PreCamp). Fit & Fun Go Green: I love my Fitbit, and it really makes me happy (stupidly so) when the five goals turn green and I get the smiley face reward. Steps: 7500 STA +1 Water: 2L CON +1 Calories Burned: 2000 CHA +1 Active Minutes: 30 DEX +1 Distance: 3.25 miles STA +1 Every Day: (a whole playlist of smile-inducing tunes!) STR +225 situps ORa plank ORsquats OR5 pushups ORdancing and skipping around like a loonsomethingClutter pickup STA +1Check in with NF WIS +1Every Week: (extra smiles through quality time with myself and with my children) Yoga Thursday, or some me time stretching equivalent DEX +1Game Night with the boys (Thursday, most likely) WIS +1Mom & Vivian play night (Monday) CHA +1For easy reference Glutes workout http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Womx4TM6p3A Abs workout