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Hi everybody! I apologise for the long wall of text that is coming, but I kind of need to talk this through to myself. Those of you who already know me, also know what troubles me: anxiety, stage fright, low weight... and of course, being unable of doing that damned first push-up. I've been working a bit on all this since I came first to Nerdfitness, and lately I've been focused on my anxiety. I've done a rather good work these last months, and I can perceive how much better I am compared to last scholar year beginning in 2013. Now that I've put almost everything on place, I would like to spend this challenge just trying to get everything in my life going on and keeping anxiety in the lower levels. I've designed 3 main goals: physical care, mental care and brain food. Everyone of them is a tool to achieve a lower level of anxiety, not a “goal†by itself. I want to be stronger, and faster, and have more stamina, and to put on weight, but that won't be the point this challenge. Physical care will include exercising but also resting and taking care of food intake. It's divided in 8 areas which have different demands: Running: 2 or 3 times a week (I am more or less following the C25K program, 4th week right now). Lifting: 1 or 2 times a week. Tap dancing: 1 or 2 times a week. This means I have a lot of flexibility on which kind of exercise I do, but I expect to workout 4-5 times a week. Eating. Eating well. Eating more fat. Not letting anxiety lower my appetite. Chewing what I eat. Staying warm. Not letting winter, cold, rain or snow make me feel I have to hibernate because it is too cold to do anything. Assure myself I am warm at home while I am not moving, try to keep my feet warm, take hot beverages to keep the heat, put my feet in warm water... Whatever helps. Go outside. Yes, it is cold, but outside is good anyway. I run in the country, so I'll be outside everytime I go running, but it would also be nice to go for more walks, or hikes if I have time available. Rest. A rest day between workouts, where I can work on stretching or Feldenkrais movements. A time a day to take a nap or to slow down, or to do something fun. Mental care will include 6 activities: Meditate. At least 4 times a week, but would like to meditate 5 to 7 days a week. Breath. A short break once or many times a day to just focus on my breath for 4 or 5 minutes. Rest. This is similar to physical rest, but if what I am doing is reading, or watching a series instead of just relaxing, breathing or taking a nap, that is not mental rest, it's only physical rest. I need both of them. Anxiety workbook. I've been working with this book last weeks and it's proving itself very helpful. I am only half way in the book. I'll work on it (reading, writing about what I read, working on the exercises proposed) 4 to 7 times a week. Positive things. As an anxious person I have this tendency to give more importance to negative things or to think they are more frequent than good ones. So I'll keep a list, 5 to 7 days a week. I've been doing it for a while and it helps. No-procrastination mode. This is hard, yes. But procrastination is responsible for lots of anxiety moments. Brain food. This includes only 2 activities, just for fun, for distraction, and to educate myself at the same time. They can serve as physical rest moments: Learning icelandic. Reading. Some of you may think “hey, that is a lot of work!†but in fact everything is more or less in place already, as I've been working on slowly adding activities one by one while keeping my anxiety low. So all I have to do, the real challenge, is to keep everything in place, to make it keep going, without anxiety piling up. If it does pile up, then activities will be reduced to anti-anxiety-emergency levels, where there will be only 5 activities that must continue whatever it happens because they are what most help me to reduce anxiety: Meditation. Breathing. Running. Resting. Icelandic. These may surprise some of you, but this really makes me break away from everything. While I am at it, nothing else exists and anxiety about other things in life dissipates. Plus it is really fun. Gradings: Physical care: I exercise as planned and rest everyday: C. All that + good eating, slow chewing and taking care of staying warm as much hours a day as possible: B. All that + extra outside time: A. Mental care: Meditation, breathing and resting: C. All of that + positive things list and time dedicated to the anxiety workbook: B. Everything said + no-procrastination mode: A. Brain food: Icelandic: C. Icelandic + reading: B. Icelandic + reading books on different subjects or areas: A. If I must stay one, or two non-consecutive weeks, at an anti-anxiety-emergency level for justified reasons, I will still pass the challenge. If besides all that, I keep a regular musical practice schedule: A+. Rewards: As challenge goes by, it will be harder to keep everything on place, so the rewards planned this time will also grow in value (value not meaning necessarily more money, but them being more expected or desired). At the end of the first week: my already traditional box of raspberries. At the end of the third week: a slow cooker. Final reward: head massage. Character points: Grade A: Strength 1 point Dexterity 1 point Stamina 2 points Constitution 4 points Wisdom 5 points Charisma 2 points Grade B: Strength 1 point Dexterity 1 point Stamina 1 point Constitution 2 points Wisdom 2 points Charisma 1 point Grade C: Strength 1 point Dexterity 1 point Stamina 1 point Constitution 1 point Wisdom 1 point No charisma points Now, let's do some work!