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The chaos of summer has done a number on my sleep habits. I'm going to bed later each night, having bad insomnia, waking frequently in the middle of the night, and generally not feeling well-rested. So, this challenge, I'm going back to basics and re-establishing good habits in the hopes that it will promote better sleep. Plus, I'm in the middle of a Sandman re-read, so it all seems to fit. Each goal will focus on some destructive aspect of my sleep habits, and try to address them: 1. Electronics and nighttime overstimulation: I've been staying up way too late watching tv, playing video games, or messing around on my phone. But that's all pretty self destructive when the goal is to fall asleep easily. So, the new rule is that by 10 pm on weekday nights and 11 pm on weekend nights, the electronics all have to go away, and instead it's time to read. Each day that I comply with this earns 4 points. The goal is 100 points by the end of the challenge. 2. Poor food choices and nighttime sugar: I've been eating food based on convenience, and I'm binging on junk at night. So, I'm probably consuming entirely too much sugar, as well as spiking my energy levels too late at night. The new rule is to batch cook at least one healthy meal each week to encourage healthier eating. Also, the goal is to minimize nighttime snacking and stick with healthier choices like vegetables, fruit (in moderation), or cheese. Each night that I have a modest, healthy snack earns 2 points. Each batch-cooked meal earns 12 points. The goal is to hit 100 points by the end of the challenge. 3. Time wasting: Having the kids home all day breaks my day into a lot of 15 or 20 minute chunks of time. And I sadly tend to waste those, as I often feel like it's just not enough time to get anything done. But wasting a whole day tends to make me anxious, and I generally waste them by spending too much time on the computer or my phone. Extra screen time + extra anxiety = pretty crappy sleep. So, the goal is to use those chunks of time for something productive. For the first 2 weeks (kids still out of school), each time I would waste time, but instead do a cleaning task, read, practice the piano, program, work on art for my apps, study the parkour manual, handle adulting tasks, or otherwise do something useful with one of those chunks of time, I earn a point. For the second 2 weeks (kids back in school), for each solid block of time (1+ hour) where I focus on programming, cleaning, adulting, etc., I earn a point. Once again, the goal is 100 points. 4. Get re-grounded in my fitness routine: Several things with my summer fitness routine have increased my anxiety levels. 1. As much as I love Pokemon GO, I can get overly obsessive about things like this. While I enjoy the game a lot, I want to back away such that it's just something fun I do when I otherwise want to take a walk. 2. All of the parkour is great, but teaching causes me to get into my head too much, to a point where I'm overanalyzing and re-playing everything I did in class. And that's just not healthy for me. So, I need to work on prepping some strong routines before class, and then after classes, largely let it go. 3. My current haphazard strength routine makes me feel like I'm doing a whole lot of nothing and just grinding my gears without getting stronger. I'm going to borrow one of the parkour conditioning drills* (which I'll describe later) twice/week so I have more of a plan. 4. Yoga is good for my anxiety, but I've struggled to fit it into my schedule. I hate overly complicated rules, but here goes: + 3 points for doing yoga + 3 points for shutting down any neurotic over-analysis of parkour class + 2 points for just doing a casual Pokemon GO walk or taking a walk/ruck with no pokemon involved at all + 3 points for the parkour conditioning drill + 1 point for successfully using any meditation apps or videos + 3 points if I go climbing and just relax and enjoy it, rather than letting the grading or other things get into my head The goal, once again, is 100 points. My current fitness schedule is: Sunday: Parkour - combination of assistant teaching and taking classes Tuesday: Parkour - assistant teaching classes Wednesday: Parkour - taking class + open gym Friday: Strength training The remaining days will be filled with yoga, walking, rucking, and things like that. The parkour conditioning drill is to make a sequence of 10 bodyweight exercises, each to be performed for a minute: Push ups, pike push ups, dips, cat hang, pull ups, squats, wall sit, glute bridges, v-ups, toes to bar. I want to give this a try for the HIIT aspect, and since it's only a 10 minute workout, I'm more likely to get in the habit of tacking it on after my parkour classes. And, just to add an extra wrench to things, my kids are still off of school for another 3 weeks. So, right in the middle of the challenge, we have to nail down our back-to-school routines. It also means I absolutely will have to be awake and functioning by 6:45 every morning.

Brutal Bears and the Endless Intro the challenge 5 XP [235/600] 33.5%33.5% Destruction Destiny Death Dream Delirium Before Picture: 169 Pounds (and bulking) Coming soon... possibly challenges for Desire and Despair Rewards and goodies