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Jonesy’s Oh, Bother Last challenge was a struggle to find the determination to follow through with my goals. This challenge I'm going to keep it simple. Me, keep things simple, yeah ok but I’m gonna try real hard. At least for the challenge. Haha Fitness : Workout 12 times Health : Meal Plan each week & eat at home at least 15 times Life : Make a reasonable to do list and accomplish at least 4 items Keep it Simple!

Ok, ok, we're not going to be quite up to his level of shenanigans out in the wild, but we'll hopefully be exploring some unfamiliar terrain. We'll be trying out this geocaching-thing. The "we" are again, the boys and I, as I try to up their activity level this challenge round. Due to my choice to take over the gardening the last month and a bit, I haven't had time to really get out there walking or playing or just get out with them that much. With geocaching, we'll be looking for that cache or "treasure" which should be fun, or at least adventurous. HEALTH : DAILY Water/Tea Food (the boys and I) Sleep Bible Study The boys don't have a problem drinking a lot of water. I need to drink at least 1x bottle of water, preferably some rooibos during the day as well. I'll be tracking our food. Mine is more serious, to establish a maintenance level where I can function normally while still doing gardening, some strength, walking, etc. Sleep is usually a struggle. R5 for me, and R2 each for the boys for each night we manage to go to bed on time! Me: 22h00 - Boys: 21h00 WORK : WEEKLY The Must Do's Every Week Gardening: Mowing OR pruning OR weeding OR planting (1-2x/week) My Strength Circuit (1x/week) Geocaching (1x/week) Dry Fire Drills (1x/week) Rocco does Playball, and may join the jnr soccer team. We'll see. Adam walks with me while Rocco does Playball. I need to get them a bit more active, since we've all gotten a bit lax since I took over the garden work. That is why I decided to introduce geocaching to them. (All thanks goes to @Elastigirl for all the ups and downs we might encounter ) Seriously, it sounds like the right kind of thing for us: not too much wild, some adventure and looking for "treasure"! If the boys help me in the garden, I'll pay them R10 each/day. When we all go on a geocache (successful or not), we each earn R10. If they do any of the active XBox Kinect games, or play by themselves/together outside for 30min. and more, I'll pay them R5 each. TO DO LIST: The Must Do's During the Challenge Finances: Update spreadsheet - March - April Proof Reading: +- 1hr = 1x session (not the whole book at once, which is 400+ pages) Update telephone and birthdays books Sewing: block out filter covers - slippers - fix Serenity's seat Other things that pop up - they usually do I'll give myself R10 for every month of finances I update. Yeah, I suck at keeping up to date on finances. Wanna Do's During the Challenge Camp in the garden with the boys, even for half a night's sleep under the stars (ok, tent or shelter will be preferable) Chop some fire wood Climb high up on the ladder to pick some avo's (mil would be very happy) EDIT: Added Learn some rope knots Look at the stars (search for known constellations) I'll give myself R10 for everything I manage to do on this list.

So, after losing pretty much all progress over the holidays, I spent last challenge slowly trying to get myself back on track. Some things are in maintenance mode: I'm not currently tracking calories, but I have enough of a general sense of how much I'm eating that I seem to be sticking close to 2000 calories a day, most days, which is about right. I'm not weighing myself right now, because I don't want to stress out about it. On the other hand, there are some things that need immediate attention: my wildly fluctuating sleep schedule, staying hydrated, and trying to start working out again. I established some rules for my sleep hygiene during the last challenge, but I wasn't entirely good about sticking to them. I've decided that the absolutely most important thing is to try to get my circadian rhythm to properly regulate itself, since its... issues... are the source of my sleep difficulties. Now, I'm attempting this on my own, at this point, without the guidance of a sleep doctor. If I fail to see any improvement, I might eventually see a specialist and see if they can help me. For now, my plan is to take melatonin at the same time every night (11 pm) and turn on bright lights when I wake up in the morning (8:30ish). I did fairly well with taking the melatonin on time during the last challenge, and after a few weeks I noticed that I actually start getting tired on my own around that time, now. Waking up at the right time is still a challenge. I'm not sure why, but I tend to really struggle with staying adequately hydrated. It's mostly in the summers and winters; I think the winter cause is dryness from heaters. I'm seriously considering buying a humidifier, which would probably help. Last challenge, I made it a point to drink 128 oz of liquid per day, which I did, but I'm still feeling slightly dehydrated most of the time. So this time, I'm bumping it up to 150 oz/day. Yes, that is a lot of liquid. (I do include caffeinated beverages, like diet soda and coffee, but mostly it's water and some gatorade.) I really need to get back to exercising. I think I "exercised" (to use the term loosely) 2-3 times last month. My goal for this challenge is just to exercise in some capacity 2 times per week. Walking, stretching, lifting... it doesn't matter. If it gets my blood pumping or stretches out my muscles, it counts. Those are my 3 health-based quests, but I have two "life quests". One is simply to do at least one thing on my To Do list every day, because having a big to do list that never seems to go down makes me feel stressed. When I'm stressed, I tend to avoid the thing that is stressing me out... which means the list gets even longer. There aren't all THAT many things on the list, so I think that by the end of this month, I should be in a much better place in regards to the list. The second thing I want to work on is making time in my schedule for my mental and spiritual health. (Thus the title.) I'm going to attempt a rotating schedule of introspective mediation, spiritual reading, and relaxation time. Hopefully I'll be doing a few story-based posts this time, too! :3

I'm returning to doing challenges! I gave up after failing challenges and not focusing my goals properly. But I have just finished reading Steve's book and have the motivation to make a difference to my life again! So here we go. Goal: Get to the gym Reason: I haven't been to the gym much recently (thanks to illnesses, injuries and people dying). I need to reintroduce it as a habit in my life. I enjoy getting stronger and want to be able to do awesome things with my body. What: Go to the gym three times a week following the StrongLifts programme to get my lifts back to what I was achieving in 2014. Simple as that. How: Plan when I'm going to the gym into my week. Bonus points: additional physical activities (stop sniggering at the back) like yoga, walks, etc. Motivation: Being awesome and ready for anything life throws at me. Zombie apocalpyse? Survived. Need to save the galaxy? Sorted. Goal: Prepare lunches for work Reason: It is cheaper, healthier and less limited. I calculated how much I was spending buying lunch and tea on work days and it amounts to over £1000 a year. That doesn't include additional treats! Plus the amount of calories eaten and choice of food (as a veggie) just isn't worth it. What: as it says on the tin. The day before I start work I will prepare enough lunches for the week that are relatively low in calories and consisting of lots of veggies and protein. I will also spend time trying to find new recipes to keep the variety up. How: reminding myself of how much I'm spending on food and what it could be spent on. Motivation: Think how many awesome adventures £1000 a year could provide. Goal: Reduce time wasting Reason: I kill the time between getting home from work and going to bed, or my days off, by sitting on the sofawith my iPad and browsing Internet and social media. No matter how bored of it I am I keep doing it. It is easier than finding something to do. Even things I want to do. What: every night after work spend 30 mins with no internet usage. On non work days this will be two hours (broken up in to however it is needed) and does not includetime spent on other parts of my challenge i.e. Gym, food prep. Time should be spent either working on epic quest (e.g. Writing, learning, planning) or other things that need to be done (otherwise known as adulting) How: Every week I will write a to-do list for the week of things that need to be done and I will work on my epic quest list. Bonus: for every extra 30 mins per day Rewards: paying for CrossFit beginners classes if I consistently achieve my goals (it ticks off my goal of trying new fitness things and summoning courage of going into completely new social surroundings). If mostly achieved a new piece of workout gear.

So I was thinking through some of the things that I want to do at one point in my life as an extension of this challenge. I came up with this list so far. I am sure there will be more things to add in the future. Climbing 1) Finish a lead climb route 2) Climb outdoors 3) 5.12 4) 5.13 5) V4 6) V5 7) V6 8) V7 9) V8 10) V9 11) V10 Running 1) 52 second 400m 2) 2 min 800m 3) 5 min mile 4) Under 18m 5k 5) Marathon Basketball 1) Dunk Softball 1) Home Run at Fall Tournament 2) Switch hitting Other 1) Be on American Ninja Warrior 2) Tough Mudder 3) Spartan Trifecta - Sprint - Super - Beast 4) Clutch Flag 5) Human Flag 6) Tricks on slackline 7) Muscle Up on rings 8) Iron Cross on rings

Past 6 weeks Milythael and The Wolf have been huge inspirations to me and helped me through a great deal of funk!!! The Wolf inspired me to go from an asari assassin to a wolf assassin and I'm feeling more at home with that. Here's what I'm working on: I've listed my goals in the first image, but here they are again in more detail: 1. Make 1 cookbook meal a week +2 Con, +2 Cha I have a number of cookbooks lying around that I'm not using. In my quest to eat better, and learn to eat more types of food, I'll make 1 cookbook meal a week. It's gonna be made on weekends most likely. I will not judge the ingredients, but just try it. 2. Do a crow pose +4 Dex I've been working on this, but can't really get 1 foot of the ground comfortably. Not sure if it's manageable, but I'm gonna do my utmost best! 3. Follow bench press program +3 Str I made myself a program I think I can stick to. Today (Saturday) I'm suppose to do 5 reps of 6kg/hand bench press (I use dumbbells) Here's what I have in mind: Week 1 - Monday: Do 6 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 7 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 8 reps with 6kg/hand Week 2 - Monday: Do 5,2 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 5,4 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 5,5 reps with 6kg/hand Week 3 - Monday: Do 6,5 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 7,5 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 8,5 reps with 6kg/hand Week 4 - Monday: Do 8,6 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 8,7 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 8,8 reps with 6kg/hand Week 5 - Monday: Do 5,5,2 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 5,5,4 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 5,5,5 reps with 6kg/hand Week 6 - Monday: Do 6,5,5 reps with 6kg/hand - Wednesday: Do 7,5,5 reps with 6kg/hand - Friday: Do 8,5,5 reps with 6kg/hand This is based on my own experience with what my body is capable off. I've noticed that my body doesn't get strong as fast as seems to be average (looking at other programs), and that's okay. I will get there! 4. Eliminate To Do List / Keep on top of things +4 Wis Weekly chores and the stuff I've been putting off. I have 2 more things to do for work and then I want to get some things done around my house. That's my to do list. Otherwise it's taking care of my home - Complete laundry (black, white, color, red) - Clean the house (toilet, storage, hallway, bedroom, bathroom, kitty, living/kitchen) - Water the plant on Sunday