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Towards the end of the last challenge, I had some Vocational Testing done, to see what my personality and aptitudes and interests would make a good career fit for me and the results were...well...not what I expected entirely. I started out 3 weeks ago, admitted to Grad school for Social Work, starting 3 weeks from now, but now that's entirely off the table and I am going in a whole new direction, because while I may LOVE Social Work in theory, I am not a very socially intelligent person, which is a death knell in a position like that, and I realized that I would be doing every one of my clients a disservice by choosing that career, and there are many other choices out there that fit better with my strengths rather than my weaknesses. The testing told me several things: 1. I am smart (IQ >125) 2. I am unique (INTJ using the MBTI Personality Testing) 3. I enjoy physical activities that involve an element of risk while being non-gender typical 4. I am capable of learning higher level math (possibly the most important point) Many of these I was already aware of (I have known I was an INTJ since high school) and that INTJs are very interesting folks (Sherlock, Moriarty, Gandalf, Augustus Caesar, Hannibal, Thomas Jefferson are examples of this personality type) and make up a very small percentage of the population ( < 2%) and that I am smart enough to do pretty much anything I want. So why am I 36 and have about zero confidence in my ability to do/be anything of value? Well...because life has tried to kick my ass, and it has pretty much succeeded in this area. Self Esteem and Self Confidence and Self Value are serious issues I need to overcome (I know that's news to everyone ) So during the course of all this testing, many different career paths were thrown around, and the two top contenders were: Massage Therapist and Accountant. Talk about mind boggling! Me...the girl who has cheated her way through every math course since 6th grade except Logic (including college math) doing Accounting?!?!?!?! What?!?!?! But seriously, we also realized that my issue with math is not one of ability (I can figure out lower level math in my head faster than just about anyone...someone I didnt know even asked if I was a mathematician once because of that) but it was because I didn't ever actually learn some of the very basic things I should have in middle school, and never could catch up because the later stuff builds on those. So the solution is: Teach myself lower level math, and work my way up and doing that will give me some self confidence and success and some good feels (Which by the way is something I was told a year or so ago by someone else, and it's just very daunting and I dont want to fail). I am also planning in the meantime, to do some job shadowing and work experience and some other things with Accountants in the area to see how I do and what I think, and then it looks like maybe a Masters in Accounting or an MBA in my future (not sure which route is best yet, anyone have a clue???) and if/when this works...I will also have the ability to support myself (my biggest fear, eliminated) and then yay! So now...about challenge goals: 1. Do my Math Workbook: One lesson per day 2. Modified Before Bed Routine: daily 3. Eat GFCF and do the Potatoes not Prozac Plan Step One: breakfast daily with protein 4. Yoga: 3x a week 15 minutes minimum (Savasana counts right now) 5. 8 hours of sleep TL;DR: I am an INTJ (like Sherlock) and don't suck at Math and am going to work towards a career in Accounting and my challenge goals are all repeats of basic life shit (Bedtime Routine, Eating Breakfast and Gluten/Dairy Free, Yoga, Sleep and Math bookwork) Bottom Line: I was selling myself short at just settling for being a Princess

Last challenge I decided to stop doing what I thought I should, and just do what I enjoy and love. After my surgery, I have to start over with a lot of things, and being back with J and healthy again, means a lot of things have changed recently...and I need to go back to basics and build my castle the way that works for me, rather than how someone's else's castle is built, from the ground up. My things that I enjoy: 1. Yoga (but I have realized that in order to "do" yoga, I need the perfect surrounding space...which makes me not "do" it.) 2. Reading 3. Cleaning and organizing and decorating my house (but I can't get the process started on my own...stupid Executive Functioning!!! grrrr! so I never actually do it either) 4. Climbing, jumping, running, generally acting like a child outdoors (I don't ever do this either, because I'm afraid of hurting myself mostly, and trying to get someone to do it with me is like pulling teeth around here and I don't like going alone, so I dont do this either) 5. the beach 6. Quiet (which is more of a need than a want, but I have teenagers, so you can imagine how much I get of it) 7. Cold weather (and I live in Florida...grrrrr) 8. Not having to worry about money (hahahahahahaha like this EVER happens ) 9. Helping people 10. Games (video, computer, board games etc.) 11. Making things colorful (decorating them, coloring them, crafts...whatever, I love looking around me and seeing lots of color) 12. Learning new things (which I am not sure why I shy away from this so much...fear of failure is the only thing I can guess, because I really love learning in general) Goal 1: Practice at least ONE video from MyYogaPro every day (the videos vary in length and can be as little as one pose length, so doing one per day is not difficult, but it will get me started back on my "doing yoga" path) A: All of the yoga all of the days! B:36/42 C:30/42 D:24/42 Fail: Less then 4 days/week! Goal 2: Do the Mutant Money Makeover PvE to tackle the dreaded money problems. Bonus: I had already set up a meeting with a Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Planner and our meeting is July 9th...so that will make me stick with this even more (I hope) Complete each assignment each week and stick to my budget. 6/6: A 4-5/6: B 3/6: C 2/6: D 1/6: F Goal 3: Biggest Loser 3.0 which will involve changing my food and exercise too. Lose weight and complete weekly challenge: A Lose weight or complete challenge only: C Neither: F Goal 4: More Organizing/Decorating/Cleaning a la Flylady Do my morning and evening routine and daily mission every day A: All of the cleaning all of the days! B:36/42 C:30/42 D:24/42 Fail: Less then 4 days/week!

What constitutes my version of the perfect fairytale? Let's find out (work in progress) 4. become fluent in Spanish 5. take a vacation to Portland 8. Move out of Florida by summer 2016, to the Northwest or Virginia (either would be awesome) 9. Start daily Ashtanga classes in a Mysore Style studio 10. Travel to Mysore to study for a summer, 15. hopefully somewhere in there, have an amazing relationship and live happily ever after with them 16. visit one new country every year with my significant other 17. Take aerials classes 18. Read all of these: 60 Most Recommended Yoga books + Al Kavadlo's Stretching the Limits + Some Ashtanga books + Yoga and the True Self + Books related to Yoga and Trauma My "I'm Possible"List (smaller meanwhile goals I want to achieve) 1. Do a handstand 2. Do a handstand straddle press 3. become proficient up to the Fourth Series in Ashtanga Yoga 4. Learn a 3rd language 5. Do humanitarian work to help save the rainforests 6. Eat in a way that honors my body 7. Run the Disney Princess Half Marathon 8. Go to Jerusalem for Tasneem's wedding 9. Visit Paula, Jenn, Vanessa, Sara and Hiram 10. help more people than I hurt, love more people than I don't, be a light for the world by being the best me possible. 11. live to see my great grandchildren 12. have a beach house 13. climb a mountain 14. dive the Great Barrier Reef 15. never forget to be grateful 16, Cosplay 17. LARP

Ok kids....I'm early, but I'm planning on spending the better part of this next year (at least...it may turn into a much longer stay, even permanent residence) in the Druid forest, so I figured now was as good a time as any. My name is Bekah and I am not new to the Rebellion, and I am a special type of Druid, but they have wayyy too much shiny stuff over in the Assassin's camp and I need to get and keep my core focus before I branch out again. What is my core focus, you ask? Getting my yoga practice consistent and getting this weight off once and for all, and keep reading, because I love it. That's it and that's all. Simple, easy, straightforward...it works for me that way. I love to overcomplicate stuff until I do nothing at all, but no more of that. No challenge grades, no Stat points, nothing except leveling up each challenge. I LOVE Ashtanga Yoga, although there are no local classes here, so I am on my own, but I'm okay with that mostly. My plan is just to work my way through the Primary Series and get to the point where daily practice is second nature. I am also going to do daily meditation for 10 minutes, using the book Meditations from the Mat and I'm going to have a calendar with star stickers as my way of keeping track of my practice days, and will post photos of said calendar. As for the weight loss: No Gluten, Dairy or Allergens and stay Feingold.I am also going to eliminate sugar using the program in the book Your Last Diet This makes the weight fall off and stay gone, it's just not easy. I am also going to participate in the Biggest Loser 3.0 started by AlienJenn when it begins, and that is it. No other goals, no more detailed plans. I will also be keeping track of this in my planner using smiley face stickers. Keep it Simple Silly! My plans for reading include finishing the Wheel of Time Series and then finding a comprehensive list of the classical works in literature and reading those. Challenge Goal Recap: 1. Read "Your Last Diet" book and eat breakfast with protein daily until it becomes habitual. (Step One in the book) Keep track of breakfasts eaten daily by smiley stickers in my planner. 2. Practice Surya Namaskara A and Closing Sequence and Savasana every day except Saturdays, Moon Days and Girlie Holidays and Do 10 minutes of meditation folowing Savasana using the Meditations from the Mat book entry for that day. Keep track of practice days (or meditation on non practice days) by star stickers in my planner. 3. Finish Reading "Lord of Chaos" (Book 6) and start on "A Crown of Swords" (Book 7).

Here is the Nerdiversary Party plan All party food will be Yummy and make me happy when I eat it (ie. No gluten or dairy, limit sugar to ONE treat per week, except pre shark week, I get 3, and REALLY try to limit allergens)There will be lots of bendiness (back to 3x/week yoga)Will try new and exciting things with new (and old) friends (participate in all Biggest Loser 2.0 mini challenges)Preferably, all gifts will be Fiction books (I will read nothing but Fiction books for the entire challenge)There will be juggling (I got myself into a juggling PvP! O.o)No grades, no pass/fail, just going to enjoy the next six weeks the best I can, and do the things I love and that make me happy and feel good. My birthday falls on the Wednesday before the challenge ends, so it's a double dose of party!! "If it ain't fun, I ain't doin' it"

Prequel--- I love myself, so now what the fuck do I do? Boundaries, accepting and repairing what I can of the past that seems to directly affect my present, realize that its not anyone's responsibility but mine to do this work, stop expecting too little (or too much) from others, be patient with myself, trust that its not going to kill me in the meantime. Sometimes we create the exact thing that we fear and hate most of all, because its all we know. Time for that to change. Main Quest: Bulid a Strong Foundation I need to not be so vulnerable to attack from trolls, goblins, dragons, evil witches and wizards, vampires and the like...and the best way to do that is to protect myself. How do I do that? Well, I need to build a castle to keep them out, but make sure that it has enough light and air so that I don't suffocate and die, and a nice big drawbridge opening over the moat for the good people to come in when they need to. So, that means boundary work. LOTS of it. I have recently learned some things about myself, towards the end of the last challenge...that severely impact my ability to have good healthy relationships...and that HAS to change. Princess or not, certain attributes can just flat out ruin a fairytale, and ultimately I do want my own personal version of a fairytale. Unfortunately, I don't have a fairy godmother, so I have to do it my damn self. That means goal setting. Goal #1: Read and do the exercises in Boundaries: Where you end and I begin: How to Recognize and Set Healthy Boundaries over the course of the challenge. Reward for A grade: A book from the Wheel of Time Series Goal #2: Do yoga 4x per week for the 6 weeks of the challenge. Reward for A grade: $25 towards these pants so that by the time I am doing 6/6 days of yoga per week, I have saved enough to buy them Goal #3: Establish a Routine (including a bedtime and limited internet time) and follow it by partcipating in another Flylady PVP Reward for A grade:A weighted blanket Diet Goal: Continue my diet changes from last challenge, but measure food and track daily intake (I did well until I stopped doing that). Reward for A grade: aforementioned weighted blanket Mini Challenge: Do Angry Birds Workout 3x a week Reward for A grade: aforementioned weighted blanket. Basically I have to get A's in 3/5 goals to get this blanket, which I actually need, rather than just want, but cant afford without preplanning for it Grading for the Goals: 1. Read I will grade this on x/42 for the number of days I worked on this throughout the whole challenge 36+/42: A 30-35/42: B 24-29/42: C 18/23/42: D < 18/42: F 2. Yoga I will grade this on x/4 per week 4/4: A 3/4: B 2/4: C 1/4: D 0/4: F 3. Routines I will grade this on x/5 per week (each routine (morning/evening) is worth 0.5 pt) 5/5: A 4/5: B 3/5: C 2/5: D 1/5: F 4. Food I will grade this on x/20 per week and each meal that I don't eat is -1 pt 17-20/20: A 12-16/20: B 8-12/20: C 5-8/20: D < 5/20: F 5. Angry Birds Workout I will grade this on x/3 per week 3/3: A 2/3: B 1/3: C 0/3: F

Now that I have proven my mettle sufficient to join the Assassin's Guild, it's time to begin the real quest: Defeat the Princess Link had Dark Link, Ichigo had Zangetsu, Max has the Princess. The internal self we must defeat to truly come into our own. She embodies everything I have been taught to be, everything I have internalized from my culture and surroundings that is contrary to my self. She is the dress-wearing, makeup-smeared, ladylike alter-ego I have been putting on before I leave the house since high school. It is the Princess who has convinced me time and time again that visible muscles are un-ladylike, that talk is better than action, that I must sit in the tower and wait to be saved while someone else fights the dragon. It's time to fight my own dragon. It's time to defeat the princess. For Halloween this year, I'm going as Kara Thrace. I've got 6 weeks to become her. Challenge Part the First: Push down the world Grace, Strength, and Power - Continue progress toward changing my self-image Continue habit of workouts And the ultimate goal for this challenge: do 10 pushups Quest One: Grace (+4 CHA) For nearly 15 years, I have been counting calories. In this challenge, that stops. Instead, I will keep track of quality and will eat no fewer than three times a day. Thin is not the goal. Waif-like "femininity" is not the goal. Grace, strength, and power are the goal. To that end, I have deleted MyFitnessPal from my phone. Grading for quest one: A: Check calories no more than once a week, eat all meals B: Check calories 2-3 times per week, miss 2-3 meals C: Check calories 4-5 times per week, miss 4-5 meals D: Check calories 6-8 times per week, miss 6-8 meals Fail: Re-load MyFitnessPal, miss anymore than 10 meals Quest Two: Strength (+3 STR) As mentioned in my previous challenges, I have a number of legitimate health and structural blockages to fitness. Long-term joint inflammation, vertigo, poor digestion, among others. Because of this, I have to shoot slow and low in my strength goals to keep from hurting myself. My natural competitive nature would drive me beyond what my body could handle and ultimately set me back. So, we're keeping this small. By the end of the challenge, I would like to be able to do 10 pushups. Grading for quest two: A: Do 10 pushups B: Do 8 pushups C: Do 6 pushups D: Do 5 pushups Fail: Any fewer than 5 pushups Quest Three: Power (+3 STA, +2 CON) I've settled into a workout rhythm over the last challenge, and I'd like to not lose my momentum. Currently my rotating four-day schedule goes as follows: Day one: legs, day two: arms, day three: bodyweight/core, day four: rest. During this challenge I hope to keep plugging away doggedly at that schedule, but I won't set any specific workout for each day. I learned from SASX last challenge that mixing up what you do on any given day - while still focusing on the assigned muscle group - can really keep the challenge interesting and engaging. Grading for quest three: A: Don't miss any workouts or rest days B: Miss 2-3 C: Miss 4-5 Fail: Miss more than 5. Side Quest: Words Words are my sword. Hahahahahahahaha, cliche much? Write every weekday. The novel, the screenplay, the short stories, whatever it is, just write every day. A: Write 5 times per week B: Miss 2-3 days C: Miss 4-5 days D: miss 6-7 days Fail: Miss more than 8 days. I'm taking a page from Duality's book for updates here and will keep my rambling text-based posts to my battle log. Grace: 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 (meals by week) Strength: 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 (pushups by week) Power: 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 (workouts/rests by week) Words: 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 (writes by week)

Hi y'all! My name is Bekah and I finally picked a guild. I got really comfortable as an Adventurer, but it was time to stop learning and start training. Princesses aren't able to kill people automatically yanno? So here I am. I'm 35, a mom of 2 teenagers, 5'3" and 242lbs. I'm very positive about everything but my own strengths, and I like helping people. I'm also part Druid, so I tend to have a lot of introspection and live in my head a bit. I love learning new things, especially about people different from me and other religions and cultures. I love books, The Legend of Zelda, Biology, Sociology, Mental Health/Psychology, Hello Kitty and most 80's girl cartoons, and I recently developed a love for Anime. Main Quest I want to feel worthy of being loved by myself and others. This quest has so many components to it, and I am not at the beginning, or even halfway through, but I have done some huge work on this overall in the last few years. Four years ago, I didn't even feel like I was deserving of basic human rights like food and clothing, without doing something for them (working, cleaning, childcare etc.) and now I see that I'm more than deserving of those things, I deserve to love and be loved and to be respected and to not have to "be" or "do" anything to prove I'm worthy of having those things--at least, I get it intellectually, but most of the time I still don't feel it's true. I need to accept that truth entirely to keep progressing in my life. This is a diet/fitness related quest because my body has always been one of the biggest ways I assessed my value, and to be a reasonable weight, and be fit and physically strong, gives me a much greater sense of self worth. Quest Goals: 1. Do yoga for 15 minutes at least 3x/week for the first 6 weeks, increasing 1 day per week every 6 weeks. 3/3: A 2/3: B 1/3:C 0/3: F [3 DEX, 2 STA] 2. Participate in the Biggest Loser Challenge started by Jenn and include at least 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises (BBW or Clubbells) and 20 minutes of HIIT cardio (treadmill) 5x/week (alternating activities). This will be graded on x/7 for a weekly grade of A-F and can be made up on another day as long as there are not both the same type of workout (ie. not two BBW or Clubbell workouts on the same day). 6-7/7: A+ 5/7: A 4/7: B 3/7: C < 3/7: D 0/7: F [3 STR, 3 STA, 1 CHA] 3. Eat 3 balanced meals every day (will post menu for accountability) and eliminate gluten and dairy entirely, with the exception of one "cheat meal" per week, that is also gluten and dairy free. As part of a personal goal, this "cheat meal" will be the only time I can have anything with added sugar. (Im not counting Truvia as sugar in this context) I will grade this on x/20, with an A-F scale. 17-20/20: A 12-16/20: B 8-12/20: C 5-8/20: D < 5/20: F [2 CON] Life Quest: Consistently follow my Flylady routines, to increase my feelings of self worth in how I take care of my home and family responsibilities. This will be graded on x/7 for a weekly grade of A-F and ONE days routine can be made up on another day per week. 6-7/7: A+ 5/7: A 4/7: B 3/7: C < 3/7: D 0/7: F [1 CHA] I totally forgot about the Motivation!! I have several motivations: This: “What practice builds in us is a true confidence that can’t be derived from outward signs of success – fame, money, beauty. This confidence comes from the fact that you show up over and over again. That you do what you say you are going to do. That you commit to a practice, one that is possible given your life and maybe with a few missed times, a few times you mess up, you stay in the driver’s seat. And even the times you don’t show up are part of the practice if you pay attention to them, do not get rigid, can develop a soft heart/mind and don’t punish yourself or quit altogether because of one – or two – times you didn’t [practice] perfectly.†there’s a reason why we call yoga (and self-acceptance, body-love and life) a practice. And To fully believe this:

Foudn this on Lifehacker, thought I'd share. I have problems with this sometimes, and I speculate many others do too. more at http://lifehacker.com/5986518/the-simple-secret-to-time-management-jedi-time-tricks?tag=productivity