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Organic Programming II: Rind Reveries I have reviewed the Organic Programming principles. This challenge I’m adding some journalling and preparation to sandwich the day. I think this will be the most helpful expansion to my programme because I have a little extra energy and desire to do things at the moment, but I don’t focus it into activities automatically; I need some prompting. Journalling reminds me of my options in the morning, and helps me prepare in the evening so the activity is more available the next day, and there’s less resistance and more inspiration. I’m dropping the dairy during this second month of carnivorous eating to see if it makes a difference to my weight or energy. So yeah, pretty much just eating beef ("Rind") for a month. I’ll allow spices and condiments, though, because I don’t think I can face plain meat at the moment. I’ll be swapping black tea for herbal teas. I’ll use zero week to taper down the black tea and finish off the dairy that's in the fridge. For art and reading I want to focus on the quality of my attention, not the length of practice, since I have noticed distraction creeping in. I'm feeling like I have a tiny bit more interest in doing things, but I also get tired. So extra cooking and science classes are optional, for when I want a little more movement or study. Standard exercises for this challenge: DB weights at home first thing Look at my journal and plan the day 30 minutes focused reading Get properly dressed 2 x 50 minutes focused art Walk after lunch (or after grocery shopping) Prep for next day’s art & reading Carnivore, no dairy. Spices & minor condiments allowed. Overreach for this challenge: Science class in the afternoon, only if desired Cook extra snacks and lunches for Mr Harriet, only if desired Fatigue Management/Fallback Position DBs: do the first rep. Sundays off! Reading: set the timer and try. Sundays off! Dress: brush and rebraid hair Art: set the timer and try. Sundays off! Walk: take a nap if I really cannot face the walk Song: (Rind) Reverie

Hi Everyone! I am having a moment with the colour goldenrod yellow. It's popping up everywhere for me right now: clothes, markers, shiny rocks. I've been looking into some of the symbolism of it and the knowledge feels grounding and informative. In particular, the stone Citrine is coming to mind a lot. Citrine is supposed to be a happy stone for channelling success, creativity, and willpower. It's also supposed to be good for digestion. These are key things I want in the front of mind for this challenge, so I'm going to be keeping a citrine in my pocket to remind me of my goals for the next little while. My primary goals for this challenge are movement and nutrition: -I want to continue trying to get my daily walk in with the goal of beating my 5600 step count on more than 15 days which is what I managed last challenge. -I'm going to try to do one Darebee workout a day. I fully expect these to be limited to upper body stuff I can do at the shop, but something isn't nothing. -I want to explore low carb eating again with a carb range of 50-75 g net carbs in a day and a minimum of 100 g protein. Fat will be a lever to use to help with satiety, but not something I'm going to eat just for the sake of hitting that macro. -I'm going to be trying to deliberately increase my fibre intake over the course of this challenge, with a goal of 25 g a day. This is a little more complicated without grains or legumes, but I've been reading and I think I can do it. Just a matter of affording it; groceries are getting more expensive up here. -I will be tracking my intake with MFP for the duration of this challenge so that I stay honest and on task. I'm not a huge fan of tracking, but the flexibility of low carb vs therapeutic Keto means I need to in order to balance variety and results. This means fighting with it when I batch cook things *sigh*. And I have my daily tracker in my Bujo for stuff like my water intake, fun/dishes/adulting, Tarot/meditation, etc, so that will be happening in the background. I plan to weigh in today and take measurements and then touch base with that again at the end of the challenge to see if the low carb is causing any change. Depending on what I find I may have to restrict my carbs further. I really hope that's not going to be necessary but PCOS is a stubborn disorder. A note about February 10-17: Dave will be home so my eating will be the best it can while still respecting if he wants comfort foods like his favourite pizza, etc, for the short window he is home. I expect to be more lax this week, but not use it as an excuse to go off the rails completely. I think that's it! Hopefully I can keep up with everything I've set out here. I'm hoping my competencies from the last challenge carry over. 😅 Thanks for being here! 💛

Hey all, back to jump in on the challenge. Even if a bit late I turn the big 50 this year in November. I really, really want to be in a better place with my health. I wrote down some goals I would like to achieve on or before my birthday. In the perfect dream scenario, be under 250lbs, able to do 10 pull ups, and running 10k distance. Hopefully, close to getting that under 30 minute 5k. Blood sugar levels are good, and I am off as much medication as possible. Level 50 in Pokemon Go too (very very doubtful) Now these may entirely be too much to try to get to in such a short amount of time. Though I think I can get the running in, or close to it. Pull ups and weight will happen how they want on the journey haha. Level 50 in Pokemon Go sounds like a good idea, but pretty much would not happen. I'd have to ear like 320,000 XP a day. 45-46 took me 8 months haha. Now big goals, but I have to start smaller. Get much smart goals to wok my way to my eventual goals. This New Years hasn't started the best for me mentally, One reason I hadn't posted. It took me to say just do it to get the post going haha. Now for anyone that has seen my challenges before, this shall be very familiar goals. Some possible issues happening during the challenge: We have just changed insurance, so I will have to get a new doctor setup, and try to get an appointment asap. Will need medicine I am sure. I might be really really trying to look for work. Not exactly easy after being stay at home Dad for going on 13 years. Goal#1 - Sleep As always, I need to get sleep in a better place. If I am to do the exercise and losing weight I want, I need to be able to have some recover. Gains made at rest My son is out of school for another week, but I am ready to get things on track asap. For now, the focus is on shutting down things at 10pm. Then get to reading. At 11pm I need to head to bed. I'd like to get it a bit later, but during school times, I need to get up earlier. I want to give myself the best chance to get the rest I need. There may be some nights I do get to bed later. Like bowling night, or the night I catch up on TV watching with the wife. I'll figure those out as they happen. 10 points per night, all 7 days. 70 points on the week. Goal#2 - Food Now this first week, I am just not ready for what I originally had in mind. I also just started tracking again yesterday. I wasn't going to start tracking, but it just kinda was what my brain said to do haha. Week 1, I want to focus on tracking my food. No real calorie limits or anything. In my head I'm like under 2500 calories, but we will see. I've been really thinking of focusing on my real hunger signals. Not the random I just want to eat something. I also want to just start making better choices. I wanted to come into the challenge starting to do a lower calorie higher volume type diet, along with some meal prep. I think that might be more of the focus to start up week 2. For now, week 1 is just to track what I eat. I also am tracking my morning blood glucose numbers week 2 - Will decide later 10 points per day, all 7 days. 70 points on the week. Goal#3 - Exercise It's time to get more active. To start, I am going to walk. 15 minutes a day. Hopefully, I will use the Pokemon Go daily incense as a way to make it fun too. I am also including times when I am out walking in stores with the wife. Like the last couple of days we had been out and doping stuff. I want to run, but at my current weight, it would not be good based on when I did it in the past. After week 1 I want to move to a 2 x 15 minute walk, or a single 30 minute walk. Then continue to start building it up from there. I think I will be ready to start running in about 20-25 lbs lost and if I am getting in the 3 mile walks like I use to. So first goals first. I do want to start working out too. Week 1, it's enough to just walk for me right now. My brain is barely having that haha. I have a pull up bar that apparently can hold a lot of weight. I hadn't opened it yet. It's been sitting here for a really long time. I have some assistance bands too to try to help out for some workouts. Unless I just want to get started in week 1, workouts I will start doing in week 2. I figure some bodyweight with some dumbbells home workouts to start myself up. Then Week 3 or 4 maybe I can also add in the apartment complex gym to get in some weights. Will just have to see how things are progressing. Maybe I go earlier to the gym here if I get my wife going too. Week 1 is just walking each day 10 points, 70 in the week. Week 2 will add more Goal#4 - Downsize stuff I've tried to really get through some stuff, but it hasn't been consistent. I don't want to be like "I have to do 1 hour each day" or something, then get overwhelmed by that. I am making it really small. 5 minutes. If it's just organizing something to prepare for a larger group, that's fine. 5 minutes a day, I can handle that, right? Of course, I will work on things longer then that, but 5 minutes could get me started. Also any days that I have tv watching days, I can always take a box of something of go though it. I've got my cards to organize and get rid of, comics to get all boarded up and gone through to see what I might keep. Then all the other house stuff. I have computer parts and such that I haven't used. Just kept for "Just in case I might need it" Which has saved me a few times, but honestly, I have too much stuff for these new days. Might even go though the DVD/Bluray stuff too. We have plenty that I haven't touched in years. 10 points a day, 70 on the week So there is my challenge. Things may change. My brain is fighting me, but I just need to keep fighting. Thanks to @fleaball for checking in on me too. I appreciate it. I will do my best to stay involved in this challenge, and hope to get to support others Measurements: (Probably coming Tuesday) Chest - Waist - Bicep (L) - Bicep (R) - Thigh (L) - Thigh (R) - Weight - Challenge points Week 1 (01/01 - 01/07) - 0/280 Week 2 (01/08 - 01/14) - Week 3 (01/15 - 01/21) - Week 4 (01/22 - 01/28) - Week 5 (01/29 - 02/04) - Total points -

Harriet's Organic Programming: Overview I want to combine programming with flexibility. I like how the JTS programming book explains the principles needed to make programming work (like identifying your priorities, determining what traits you want to cultivate and what modalities/exercises will support them, applying specificity, overreach and fatigue management, etc). It makes programming less mysterious. I want to take a structured approach to my programming this year. But at the same time I need to be flexible because I cannot know how bad my fatigue will be in advance. Hence, organic programming. It’s a sapling, testing where the stone might crumble a little to allow a tendril to anchor. It’s the seed of a planet coagulating speck by speck as each new mote joins and adds its own gravity to the growing core. The principles of my organic programming are within the spoiler. Process for Challenges Reflect on the goals, traits and modalities, and determine either the greatest current obstacle or an area that seems ripe for expansion. Choose what ‘exercises’ could help, decide on something to overreach in (difficulty that seems a little beyond me) but also pick a fatigue management fallback; lower-effort options that will help me maintain instead of giving up completely.

2022 flew by for me. Unfortunately all the progress I made in the beginning of the year was undone and I’m my new heaviest weight I’ve ever been. The tail end left me tired, exhausted, and out of spoons. But it wasn’t all bad; it was a big year. A few notable mentions for 2022 were: - made some good soup, bread, jam and other canned goodies - got some big house tasks accomplished - got Daisy ❤️🐴 - learnt how to trim Daisy’s feet - made raised planters and grew tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries - car is finally paid off - tried fly fishing - went cross country jumping with Daisy - did fall camping - got Winnie ❤️🐾 - took my first dressage lesson - I finished 5 paintings I’m really proud of and have 2 in progress I had a bit of a mental decline near the end of this year and I still don’t feel 100%. I’m happy to say there have been some improvements. My feet are also still not great but they are a lot better and I’ve been doing small walks with Winnie as part of her training. 2023 Goals - Get work skills up to date - Lose 50lbs - Improve stamina, core, flexibility and balance - Plan wedding - Try agility with Winnie - Continue Winnie’s barn dog training - Continue on improving my look - Paint 1 painting for myself - Keep working on improving Daisy’s feet - Read the Hobbit (started) , Paper Girls, Walking Dead, Gwenpool - Continue making my house a home That’s all I can think of for now. Some of these aren’t very SMART goals. I will try to figure out what I want my 1 year of progress to look like and how to accomplish it. Challenge goals: - Daily Winnie training - Lose 5lbs - Drink 2L water - Practice 12:12 IF - Floss and brush every night - Take pill every night - Cook dinner 5 times a week Other goals: - decide about/arrange Rooks lump removal surgery - finish Dani painting - beat God of War - sign Winnie up for Agility - attend at least 2 social obedience walks with Winnie

Hi Friends, The holidays have been unusually lovely in their simplicity. Unexpectedly, my parents weren’t able to join us, which has resulted in Dave and I keeping the quiet ourselves. This interlude has been so restful and soothing. I am looking to maintain this calm centredness after January 2nd, which is when Dave leaves again for his next work trip. He will be gone six weeks so I will be using my challenge to dial in on my goals and responsibilities for that time. Framework for the Year: I have been setting some goals for 2023. Today I wrote up my Level 10 Life spread in my journal. I have never done that before and I think it will be interesting to compare notes this time next year. My areas were: Health (And Fitness), Spirituality, Home, Finances, Resilience, Lagom, Personal Development, and Creativity. For Health and Fitness, I want to walk 2,023,000 steps this year. That works out to 5543 a day. Over is fine, of course. I also want to continue to work on eating 2-3 healthy meals a day with a minimum of snacks and sweets, and drinking 3 of my 28 oz water tumblers a day. I do much better at these things when Dave is away, so hopefully I can get my feet under me solidly during this challenge. For Spirituality I am spending time in reflection every day. Right now I am using the Guardians of the Night Tarot to help prompt reflection and I like that and will keep it up. I am also journalling as I feel called to do which I will also maintain. I am not locking myself into the Morning Pages right now. Writing here and in my book is enough. As the weather gets better I want to invest in gardening as a spiritual practice, but that is months away from this deep freeze. For Home I am focused on tidiness, organization, and decoration. We did so much work to make the house lovely for the holidays that I want to keep that going and fine tune more things. This might include picking paint colours for the bedroom and even getting it painted. Might be easier to do that while Dave is away, although it may not be this particular trip. For Finances I am focused on debt repayment and starting a little bit of savings. I need to talk to Dave about this and get some goals hammered out that he agrees with, even if that is just scheduled AARs when he gets home between trips to review where we are at. We have been focused on clearing debt quite strongly for the past year and we need to continue with that, for sure. I think I want a chart so we can see if our efforts are paying off in a visual way. For Creativity, I want to continue my Photo A Day project on Facebook (I think this is year seven or eight), work on drawing and painting, painting minis, even baking. Anything that invites play. I also want to finish writing Tilly’s story this year, ideally before NaNo so that I can start a new project then. I also want to play some video games when they release: I am waiting on Coral Island and Fae Farm for the Switch. Personal Development includes keeping up with the NF Forums, reading, doing my game prep, and working on Skillshare classes. Lagom, my word of the year, means “just enough”, and I am using it here to reflect on my sense of balance, contentedness, and mental health. And my final category, Resilience, is literally adulting and managing alone while Dave is away because he’s going to be gone something like 7 or 8 months of the next year over various assignments. Am I getting the garbage to the curb? Picking up dog meds? Eating real food? Doing Laundry? Keeping the kitchen clean? I do pretty well with most things (I’d give myself a solid B, maybe a B+) but I know there’s room for improvement. Challenge Specifics (Daily): Walking: 5,543 steps a day minimum. Water: 3x Tumblers. Food: 2-3 balanced meals a day, plus *no* fast food for January. Fun: One thing a day, or more if the adulting is done. Adulting: One thing a day *in addition* to the dishes being done. I think that is it for now? I am really looking forward to continuing my adventures. Thanks for being here. ❤️

When the stockings are hung by the fireplace, and the snow is falling, and the mince pies and sherry have been left out for the Hogfather, and everyone is settled in for the end of the year, there is only one question left: have you been naughty or nice? That's it. That's the challenge. Along the way, I'm going to lean into hibernation. A week of meditation retreat, a week of extra sleep, a week of intermittent fasting (and feasting). I'm going to lean into all the martial arts/meditation "soft is better than hard" and "do less" mottos, and treat every under-performance or attention failure as a reason to rest more. I'm going to try to solidify my evening workout and metta meditation before bed. What I'd like to add is consistency with a daily walk, preferably first thing in the morning, and for mindfulness meditation. And I'm going to aim for a lot of holiday cheer. As close to a fatal dose of winter hygge as I can manage. Mandatory hot cocoa. table { --palette-red: #7b0a0a; --palette-cream: #e5d5bb; --palette-tan: #b2a288; --palette-lgreen: #668c6f; --palette-dgreen: #213c18;} table.plan { border: 2px var(--palette-dgreen); Border-top: 50px; Border-bottpm: 50px; background-color: var(--palette-lgreen); Width: 100%; Color: var(--palette-dgreen); } .plan tr:nth-child(even) { Background-color: var(--palette-cream); } .plan tr:nth-child(8n+1) { background: var(--palette-dgreen); color: var(--palette-cream); font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } .plan td:nth-child(4n+1) { Background-color: var(--palette-dgreen); color: var(--palette-cream); font-weight: bold; text-align: right; } .plan td:nth-child(4n-0) { font-weight: bold; text-align: center;background:var(--palette-dgreen); } table.tally { border: 1px solid var(--palette-red); Background-color: var(--palette-tan); Width: 100%; Color: var(--palette-dgreen); } .tally tr:nth-child(even) { Background-color: var(--palette-cream); } .tally tr:nth-child(9n+0) { background: var(--palette-red); color: var(--palette-cream); font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } .tally tr:nth-child(9n+1) { background: var(--palette-red); color: var(--palette-cream); font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } .tally td { } .tally td:nth-child(4n+1) { Background-color: var(--palette-red); color: var(--palette-lgreen); font-weight: bold; text-align: right; } .tally td:nth-child(4n-0) { font-weight: bold; text-align: center;background:#7b0a0a; } Day Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 M28 Winter clothes Digital job Fix Christmas lights Xmas movie Warm socks next to the bed T29 Wrap early gifts Schedule Doctor Who Xmas specials Xmas movie W30 Online zendo hours Get dates for events Redo work schedule Xmas movie Th1 Winter clothes Start all the yule logs Xmas movie F2 Find winter boots Get out lights Xmas movie S3 Garden task 12/5 prep Xmas movie Su4 Seasonal baking Find a timer Restock the hot cocoa stash Xmas movie Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎁 M5 Date to watch Xmas movie Batch of eggnog week T6 Start meditation week Time scarcity week Xmas movie W7 Th8 F9 Finish project A S10 Su11 Seasonal baking Plans Hogswatch Cheer ⛄ M12 IF week Test morning routines T13 W14 Th15 Date to watch F16 S17 Su18 Seasonal baking Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 M19 T20 W21 Th22 F23 S24 Su25 Hogswatch #1 Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🕯️ M26 Day off T27 Annual review Annual plan W28 Th29 F30 S31 Hogswatch #2 Su1 Tracking template:

I did not intend to challenge this round, because Brain™ has been locked into super-scattered-fugue mode for a few months now and I'm having trouble committing to anything further in the future than lunchtime. But it's NaNovember, and that always does a few things for me. Most important, it gives me a ready-built excuse for mental drift (sorry, what did I miss? I was trying to figure out how Hazel dies ...) It reminds me that all writers pretty much struggle with the same things I struggle with; fair defense against the What Is Wrong With Me demon. It puts me back in the headspace of "heck with it, it's story!" and lets me beg off the pressure to try and write something that other people will like. Also, I've done NaNoWriMo every year for the past 12 years, it would feel weird to not do it now. I don't always 'win' (currently batting about .500) but I always do it. And I very, very often say that I'm not going to do it 'this year' and then cave and create a new project sometime after Oct. 27. This is one of those years. Fitness-wise speaking, walking is what I have the bandwidth for, so walking is what I shall do. My Apple Watch says that I am currently averaging <4,000 steps per day, so I plan to increase that by 1k/ week until the end of this challenge. 8,000 per day seems like a fundamentally doable goal, considering that I am lucky enough to work on a highly walkable campus and live in a fairly walkable neighborhood (with an exuberantly walkable dog!) That's it. Write and walk. If I do any GMB workouts, then that's bonus points, but it's November so best if I don't get too attached to other outcomes. (Good advice for all the year, but somehow easier to take during NaNoWriMo) I'm still timeboxing and it is working pretty well, so there's that. I have very specific things to do with my Creativity blocks for this month.

It was the last days of the harvest season, when the sun was still golden on the aspens and birches, still brilliant as it flickered over the red maples and the solid brown oaks, lighting up the last sheaves of the wheat fields and cornfields that still swayed and rattled, dry and raspy, in the brisking breeze. Winter was coming, its first chilly whispers biting at the edges of dawn and dusk, but it was not here yet, and the world was still warm and inviting in spirit even as the temperatures sank and the light darkened. I smiled faintly and felt a flicker of pride in myself as I carefully arranged dark red chrysanthemums in a couple of hand-me-down baskets on my crumbling front stoop in the last of the golden evening light. The womanly arts of homemaking had never come naturally to me, and autumn was the season when I most keenly felt my fumblings with decorations, hospitality and delicious hot meals. But, no matter what the wintery whisperings of my own mind said, I wasn't failing at everything. I could still bring beauty and happiness in my own ways. I was - cursed? gifted? - with two powers, two identities, if you will, that I attempted daily to carry in balance. On the one hand, I was the Silver Archer: A Lightbearer, one who, with the power of light and words and encouragement, could heal hearts and bodies. My power came from the Silver Bow - a gift given to me by the skilled wordsmiths and encouragers who had come before me. When my blood ran golden-white with joy and warmth, I could do great works of peace, love, service, and friendship; and with the Silver Bow, I could fire those words like arrows that shot across space and time. On the other hand, I was also the Dark Elf, a title I still didn't care to confess to most people I knew. My other power was that of ice. Of fear. Fear, and anger. With this power I could wound, harm, and destroy - and, I could also protect. When my blood ran icy with fear, it was a heavy weight that was nearly impossible to hide or restrain without pulling away from the rest of the world. But it also gave me a strength to sense others' fear, to protect them from danger, to light the way through shadowy valleys that my imagination had traversed like a well-worn path through my dreams or midnight awakenings. And somehow, in between those two things, the light and the dark, the heat and the ice, the joy and the fear ... I was also just ... Sky. A small half-elf, pale and plump, wife of my beloved Eamon, the broad-shouldered blond paladin. Once a servant in the great university on the mystic Temple Island, I now worked at writing and distributing bulletins for the Chief Scientist's small office in our city. It was modest work, but I enjoyed it, liked my colleagues, and especially liked bringing home a bit of extra money to contribute to our little household. The sun dipped below the horizon and I sighed, turning to glance at the little timepiece on the wall in our cottage. So early and already almost dark. Winter was the hardest season for me - the long, cold days and nights made my small body ache, and the long hours of darkness made it harder than ever to resist the silvery whisperings of icy fear and sorrow in the back of my mind. Still, as I took one last look at the mums and went back inside to warm our dinner, I set my jaw and pushed my unruly strand of white hair back up into the rest of my blonde braid. The sun isn't the only source of light, I thought quietly, selecting some carrots and potatoes, and part of my task as a Lightbearer is to seek out and reflect that light and joy wherever I can find it. For myself, as well as for others. Winter may be coming, but there are plenty of bright and happy things to find if I'm willing to go looking in the darkness. I grinned at myself and dragged the heavy cast iron pot out to boil water. Yes, you pretentious philosopher, that counts for hearts, too. Even the Dark Elf has beauty and brightness to offer, and if you're willing to go looking in that side of yourself, you might be surprised what you can find.

It's gonna get busy in here. I don't even have time to come up with an original title. Hi. I'm Stronkey Kong. Been here doing this thing 9 years. I'm still fat but making the best of it I guess. How's that? WORDS: I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year. I need to hit 1667 words daily to hit 50k by the end of November. I'm going to track my daily and total word count for November. And (despite some lame planning and number crunching on my last challenge thread) I'm going to strive to hit that 1667 minimum every day. I also have two writing events to attend. The first is a NaNo write-in at the local writing center on 11/5. The second is a writing class, same place, on 11/15. Nano is win/lose, but I can grade myself on word counts and EC for events. In the end, I'm just trying to get myself on a working routine with writing. WEIGHTS: Still following Greyskull. I'm gonna go back to MWF, base program, but with both front and back squats and M and F. Deadlift day, W, also has barbell rows programmed in. WALKS: I want to walk with coffee and audiobooks on at least two of the days I don't lift. WINTERIZING: I have to get the house ready for winter. To-do list style: plastic on windows finish the bathtub painting so I can get it all indoors rake leaves -- if I time it right, all I need is 40 min of leaf raking for the whole season) get HVAC contractor to look at my furnace depending on their answer, raise hell with the gas company. Last challenge I was really all about scheduling and time management, and that helped, or at least I was able to figure out what will work best for this challenge. I work 10 hour shifts, M-R. On those days I will exercise in the morning, and write in the evening before bed. On F, I often go into work for OT. I will continue to do so except on 11/15 which is my writing class. These days I only work a partial, 7-8 hour shift so I can fit in extra weightlifting and writing on both ends so no big deal. On weekends I plan to do extra writing to get that word count up, like aim for 2000 words to get ahead of days where writing gets constipated. Winterizing will be a weekend thing mostly.

That's right! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 This challenge began exactly on my 36th birthday! And because I'm a sucker for resolutions, I've often enjoyed making birthday resolutions as well as New Year's resolutions. It's just another way to mark a year, right? So I'm extra in love with a challenge starting on the exact same day 😁 Most of my birthday resolutions this year have to do with stuff other than what I normally put here, but for the sake of kicking everything off together, I'm going to try my best to put it all here in a way that will make sense with these challenge formats. Quest One: Move! I don't think I've had a proper workout in close to a month now, primarily due to the school year starting back up. I'm working like crazy just to keep my head above water and the World Languages program progressing. In order to not backslide horribly, my goal is to just get 5 workouts in - theoretically and hopefully once a week, but if I end up doing all 5 on the last 5 days, well, okay. I know myself well enough to know that's a real possibility! Also I have another ultrasound coming up on September 29th which might end up restricting my exercise again if all goes well (walking is still okay though). Quest Two: Fuel Well Even more critical than usual when I'm working this many hours! I have a few goals here: Task One: Stick to one Diet Coke a day. I'm mildly grumpy about this, but I've done it every day since Sunday, so I might as well stick to it. It's better for me anyway... Task Two: Stop buying so much breakfast! I've resorted to buying breakfast WAY too often lately, and it's both not good for my health and also stupidly expensive. My goal here is to buy breakfast only 5 times (or less!) during this challenge. Options from home include frozen muffins (I make a big batch and freeze them for later so they're always reasonably fresh), cream of wheat in my giant thermos, egg wraps, and if I'm really desperate, cereal in a bag. I also have a box of instant oatmeal at work as a backup plan. Quest Three: Manage Work This is the giant thorn in my paw right now. I have 4 preps (classes I have to prepare a lesson for daily) as well as an additional advisory-type class that needs infrequent prep work. I am also in charge of my department social media, spearheading the expansion as well as the honors program plans, and run two extracurricular activities including all fundraising, bookkeeping, community events, etc. Task One: Post on the department Instagram at least once a week, ideally highlighting each class at least once during the challenge. Task Two: Complete a rough outline for at least one unit in each course (which are all 7 units in total). Currently, I have: 2 rough units for Spanish 2 - next one barely started outlining 1 rough unit for Spanish 3 - next one has resources gathered but nothing else 1 rough unit for Spanish 4 - next one has resources gathered by nothing else 6 rough units for French 1 - next one barely started outlining 0 rough units for French 2 (the next class to add in the expansion) - no start at all yet Now, do I know that my rough outlines don't translate perfectly to detailed daily plans? Absolutely, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. But having these done greatly reduces my planning and resource-gathering time when it is "go" time, not to mention they make me look awesome to my boss and my boss' boss! Task Three: Gather information and resources from other districts and Jeff City and present my best argument to my boss about why she should support us implementing DELE certification. Task Four: Implement Hispanic Heritage Month school-wide activity via advisory classes, begin planning and preparing Día de Muertos ofrenda Task Five: Language study of my own: 5 intermediate or advanced Dreaming Spanish videos Japanese practice every other day (I went back to katakana because holy bejesus am I bad at that system) 1 DELF A1 practice test (should be easy as heck, but I haven't used my French extensively in several years so I'm starting low) Quest Four: Make Time to Play Two weekends ago, my husband and I made a pact to take an entire 24 hours off from school work...and then we found ourselves sitting around the kitchen table, staring at each other, talking about how hard it was not to be grading right then and how we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. However, it is also true that an entire school year at this pace is a surefire recipe for burnout. Task One: cut out all the skirt pieces for my ruffled wrap skirt. Should I get further than that? Yes, but I'm starting slow - here's to hoping a low bar will help me get things done! Task Two: decide on layout for log cabin blocks from completed quilt block swap. I only have 16 though and feel like I'm going to want/need more... Task Three: bum around at least once a week. That means comfy clothes, often some kind of snack or drink, and something not very mentally taxing, even if it's only for 10 minutes. It might often be a YouTube video or TV show, favorite book in English (my favorite living author released a new book back in June and I own it but haven't even opened it yet!), a non-frustrating bit of handsewing or embroidery, could be a fun bit of baking if I'm feeling more energetic, even just daydreaming for a moment - whatever works to get me some mental downtime!

This is mostly a productivity challenge. But I'm trying to make it fun, too, because if it isn't fun I won't do it. I'm 55 years old. If I'm not grown up enough to do non-fun things by now, it probably isn't gonna happen - but most things can be made fun, right? I love my job. Seriously, my job is absolutely amazeballs: it suits my ADHD need for constant variation, makes good use of the education I recently finished paying off all those bloody loans for (!), and puts me in daily contact with some of the best people in all of peopledom. In short, a perfect fit. Every rose has its thorn, every pro has its con. The price of my insanely awesome work flexibility is a complete lack of STRUCTURE. Which for me means that some days I get a whole great large lot of things done. And some days (even weeks) I do absolutely nothing, and there are no external consequences for giant chunks of unproductive goofing off. But there are consequences for my mental health. When I look back over several days of bullet journal and realize that I have accomplished nothing, the 'why even bother' and 'what exactly is the point of anything' monsters inside my head get loud, my brain starts to itch, and depression looms. Blech! Fact: there is always work that I can do, and that actually needs to be done. But much of it is work that can be procrastinated until right before a major inspection or something. Basically filing, organizing, filling out reports. The boring bits. The easy easy easy to procrastinate bits. Secondary fact: I talk a lot about wanting to spend more time on my creativity - more drawing practice, more fiction writing, more pathetic attempts to learn contact juggling for klutzes. Key word there is "talk." What I actually spend time on is YouTube videos, Zelda Breath of the Wild, and internet shopping for things I don't need. So this challenge, I am having an honest stab at timeboxing. I can't get too restrictive with it, because my schedule does vary and my inner bratty brat will rebel with vengeance if I try to plan out every moment of a day. I'm keeping it stupid-simple: I've gone into Google Calendar and blocked off a one-hour chunk every day for "Focus Work" - tackling any paperwork that I have that I want to procrastinate, actively researching new teaching and classroom management strategies, reviewing curriculum for needed updates. And then another one-hour chunk for "Creative Work." If I have a meeting or an evaluation during those chunks, I can move them to wherever in the day they fit - but when I'm in those boxes, I'm in. As in Do Not Disturb. I am Doing A Thing. This time is for THIS. In other news, I've been involved in the NF 5 day walking challenge, which I am planning to expand into a 30 day walking challenge. I fell off the regular workout bandwagon again (seriously, I've been on and off it so many times I should have strong legs by now just from the step-ups!), so I'm starting over with GMB Elements 3x/wk. My workouts over the past two months have been at a construction site on Saturdays, mostly doing weighted carries with large pieces of lumber or bags of cement. Not bad, actually, but I do need more than once a week, and the heavy framing is done now. *I work for the U. S. Military at a leadership and communications school. The school is actually taught by active duty military personnel who have a lot of experience with leadership and communications and the other military topics, but little to no experience in the art and science of teaching. E.g. how to structure a lesson, choose a teaching strategy, build engagement and interactivity into a classroom, all that stuff that I went to school for. (I have an M.Ed in Educational Leadership). Besides the dullsville administrative tasks listed above, I get to help the faculty prepare for each new lesson they take on, certify them to teach it, evaluate them in the classroom and give them steering guidance, conduct a lot of faculty development. And a huge part of my job is just walking around, chatting with faculty and sometimes students, in the "how's this curriculum workin' for you, what do you need, how can I help?" line of chattiness. And I get to kind of choose my own schedule, so long as I'm available when they need me to evaluate them or go to a meeting and all my reports get turned in quarterly.

Hi. I'm Stronkey Kong. I've been on NF for 9 years now. I am still fat big. I will probably always be big... but I think I can choose what kind of big I am. I tried a bit of running this summer... it didn't really work out. Walking was good, but I kept hurt my calf the more I tried to run. I'm just too heavy for my leg muscles at the moment. I need to get some daily cardio in though. I am actually 290 lbs. right now. I'd be freaking out a little bit, but I've been lifting weights and following Greyskull LP. I shot up about 5-10 lbs since I started that. I haven't really changed the way I've been eating, as far as I can tell, so I'm thinking it's because of 'da pump.' My muscles should be retaining more glycogen and water at they repair and grow. For a variety of reasons, I've been eating a mostly vegan or 'bad vegan' diet. That is, mostly plants and almost no meat or dairy, though, I let myself indulge in cravings a couple times a week, and don't nitpick minor animal based ingredients... hence 'bad vegan.' Most of the time it's because I didn't prep, and I went for convenient options. It's hard to go over on calories when I plan ahead and keep it healthy, but when I get lost in the mid-week chaos, and/or have available junk food, I can go off the rails and undo any calorie deficits fast. I've also been spending a lot of time thinking about the next move(s) in my career. I have a good, well paying job, and am staged to be out of (extraneous) debt within 3 years. Though I still need to work about 45 hours/week on average to meet those goals. And, when that 3 years is up, I want to be moving on to something new. Preferably something where I can be my own boss, and do something creative... don't we all... I've been thinking a lot about writing again, or failing that web development... but since I prefer writing and have three years to go, I might as well see if I can start getting words down and get a novel out. Goals: Daily Cardio -- walking, stationary bike, heavy bag, jogging (if/when that becomes possible) GreySkull LP -- stick to the program ( 'plug-ins' optional) Bad Vegan Meal Prep -- buy/prep meals for the work week and avoid snack/junk food Write a Novel -- Write daily I have everything I need in order to get these goals done. Including a power cage and workout buddy: I also live near a bike path for walking/biking/jogging. I have the stat. bike in the living room, and a heavy bag in the basement. Meal prep just takes some time on Sunday, and organized grocery shopping. All I need to write is a computer, a desk, and some time. That is a lot, though, and as I mentioned I work 45 hours a week -- Noon-10 pm (ish) M-R, Noon-(as late as 8pm) F How will I do it all? Get organized and follow through with my plans. Plans: Daily Cardio -- first thing in the morning (fasted even) (about 10 am) GreySkull LP -- Lift M, W, F, every evening when I get home from work. T,R are for stretching and ab work. Sunday is rest. Bad Vegan Meal Prep -- Get a hold of that vegan casserole recipe list and make one every Sunday. Make a grocery list every week and stick to it. Meal prep every Sunday. Write a Novel -- Write every evening from 1-2 am. Sit at the computer, open my novel, and type away. (not sure which novel yet 😕 ) Preliminary stuff: Yes, I saw the mini-challenge... I'll be doing the walking, but I saw some things posted about other stuff involving posting things somewhere, and was like meh, I'm not gonna bother. On Wed. Sept 13, I'm taking the day off of work to attend an online writing class with my local writing center (meet some local writers, connect, get advice). After that I will definitely be hacking away at writing and tracking word count. Until then I'll mostly be plotting, outlining, and sketching scenes. Reviewing old material. Etc. But I'm gonna put an hour or so into that every night until the class. The following weekend, Fri-Sun, I'm going up to Wisconsin to visit friends, eat cheese, and drink beer. So I'll miss those days on the schedule but whatever. It's fine. After that weekend, I will be back on the mostly straight and mostly narrow path of walking, lifting, eating plants, and writing.

I've decided to embrace RangerBrain and enjoy some variety as well as maintain a consistent core of practice. Base: Log food and activity in WW's app Do SOME sort of workout daily Participate in the NF Walking challenge All of the base goals are on a spectrum of success, and any activity that is an improvement on the slough of despair and inaction will count as success. Fun: The Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos is the inspiration for daily activities and/or study. Every day, I'll do something that would fit within the focus of the 5 Strixhaven University colleges. More about that will emerge as the challenge progresses, but I will be taking a pottery class (throwing on the wheel) during the challenge. Since this is a fairly light semester, I MAY also write some fanfiction as I go.

My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses and Proudfoots... In keeping with the official zero-week mini-challenge, I will be continuing the March toward Mordor, with the hopes of reaching Bree by the end of this round (135 miles). Accepted modalities of travel: 1. Walking (of course) The goal is for at least half the miles to be actually traveled in the preferred Hobbit manner. 2. Borrowing a bike pony from Tom Bombadil (with limits) I want to save this for if I am having trouble meeting my mileage goals, particularly since the mileage will be a significant increase from my current level by about 50%. No more than 37 miles permitted in this mode (from Tom's house to Bree). 3. Using a MAP After some internal struggle, I decided that my bodyweight-style workouts (MovNat Adaptive Practice -- see what I did there?) can count toward some of the miles. They typically involve climbing, jumping, crawling, balancing, amd other skills a hobbit might use to say, carry a heavy pack, scramble into a ravine to avoid a ringwraith, or climb out of a barrow to escape a barrow-wight. I can typically walk 3mph, so since this counts for movement over rough terrain with a heavy pack, I will count 2 miles per hour of MAP. This will likely add up to 6 miles per week, or 36 total miles. Second goal: Stay out of Farmer Maggot's crops (aka stick to calorie goals). I seem to do well with calorie restriction for a few days, and then cravings (or social events) hit me like a pile driver. I want to set a caloric goal of 1400/day for the challenge and stay within that guideline +/- 50 calories. Goal Three: find some place quiet where I can finish start my book. I plan to attempt NaNoWriMo this year, which means I need to spend this challenge in writing prep (character profiles, worldbuilding, and maybe *gasp* an outline). I want to spend a minimum of 2 hours per week WRITING, split up however is convenient. Research, however necessary, does not count, because I tend to research for years without writing a word. The Road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began....

Hello, and good evening! I've made some progress since I started challenging myself in May. First step was walking daily to build the habit of getting up to exercise. Second step was incrementally improving my bodyweight exercises from a single set to three sets. Third step was maintaining three sets with a slight increase in difficulty toward standard forms. And though I will keep track of any continuation of my body weight exercises, I want to try emphasizing solely (pfft) walking for week zero, just to see how far I can go without divided efforts. I started off this week by going on a walk this morning with my friend who accompanies me on occasional park walks. I tracked 5,800 steps for a distance of 2.9 miles. I'll be using the Éowyn Challenge (.net) for tracking my small accomplishments over the course of this week/challenge, so to start it off: I left Bag End, went around the west end, and jumped the hedge. I passed through the gate into a lane and headed west. I left the lane and followed the hedgerows south. Nowhere near Rivendell, let alone Mordor, but I'm out on the road, and I'll take it 'til it takes me where I need to go. My current goals for this challenge are: 1. Walk daily (considering doubling to morning and evening to find out if walking after work brings some relief) 2. Track my distances on Éowyn Challenge to see how close to Rivendell I can get by the end of the challenge 3. Add color (I'm gonna make like Merry and Pippin raiding Farmer Maggot's veggies, to make sure I'm including veggies at least once in my daily routine) Thanks for joining me for the journey, and I'll see you all on the road to Rivendell. Sincerely, Maerad

So, I failed so hard at the last challenge, that I am pre-emptively failing at this one now too, starting so late as I am. So since I am starting a week and half in, and I I really struggled to just hit the basics from last time, I am just going to revisit the same goals, as follows: 1) Hydrate!! 2) Walk and Stretch every day!! >>>> Literally how I look when stretching, only less cheerful 3) Log Everything!! Win conditions and loot: Make an effort at all three items each day (doesn't have to be perfect, it's about effort and habit building), and complete at least 2 side-quests to make up for missed challenge days and I will win myself that long coveted sticker for my water bottle. Side-quests (pick two): - Tailor in the bodice on my Landsknecht gown in time for Oktoberfest - Finish cleaning out the garage to make room for the swing set kit being delivered and to make a work out space - take the kids on at least 2 more solo adventures - clean off desk in library - finish writing the fanfic chapter I have been sitting on for 2+ years - finish my embroidery project and applique it to my sleeve - pick a new first day of preschool outfit for the Red Panda Things I need to remember: - I am a battering ram when I want to be! They may be my least favorite siege weapon but the analogy is apt. Cumbersome, unwieldy, but once you get them moving that wall is going to come down. - One day at a time. Before I can even GET to "never miss two in a row", I need to focus on the step in front of me - This isn't just for me it's for my kids. I mean, it's also for me, as my kids really don't care about how I look or feel in a pair of jeans (for now). But I want better for them in their lives so I need to model the habits I want them to have. Just doing it for my own vanity or comfort is never going to be enough impetus. But them . . .they are -If it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly. Even if I can't do it perfectly, something is better then nothing. - Spite is a perfectly acceptable motivation if it gets me moving

Well, I am coming back in to try to get the ball rolling again Things have been very much bad, so I could use some win here haha. For those that want to know: With all that, things have been crazy. It just makes me think a lot about how I really just need to get myself into much better shape. Wife and I have also been discussing moving out of California. I need to get a job, but even with that, buying a house seems to never be possible here. We still have a year on our lease here, but I don't think we will be here after that. Family seems to be looking more back to the Midwest area. I have family back that way. Over this next year, I'd love to hit a few goals. I want to run again. I'd like to be able to do a pull up. I need to drop some serious weight too. All this with all the craziness going on haha. To get myself going, here are my goals Goal#1 - Sleep I need to get myself into a much better sleep routine. Not only for my health, but also it's school time again for my youngest. This year is a new school, and we are close by. Still, I'll need to be getting up early haha. I'm going to have to get to bed earlier then I use to. Mostly to make sure I have the best chance of getting some good sleep. I do like reading before I head to bed, so I will be doing that here as well. Off to read at 10pm, then off to bed at 11pm. There are a couple of nights that this might not work out the best. One night is bowling night. Sometimes, I don't get home till 10. Then Friday is usually the day the wife and I catch up on tv shows we watch together. New stuff will be coming out soon, so I expect days of watching after I should be reading time. I think the rule for those two days will have to be read or get to sleep right away. Still aim to get to bed at 11. The weekend isn't a worry for getting up early at least . Off to read at 10 pm, off to bed at 11 pm. 10 points per day, 70 points for the week. Goal#2 - Pokemon Go Go Go I want to get to doing gym stuff, and running. I just need get started a bit slower with how things are so crazy around here. Funny enough, there is a new daily incense in Pokemon Go. This last 15 minutes, and pops up pokemon as long as you are walking. There is a chance to see new Legendary pokemon too (super hard to catch). My son hasn't gone with me every time, but I have been walking each day for the last 4 or 5 days. My goal is to continue doing this every day. Hopefully, getting my oldest kid to join me. Maybe after a couple of weeks, I'll get walking further, but for now I'll stick to this. Walk 15 minutes everyday (preferably using the pokemon go app to catch'em all) 5 points a day 35 points for the week. Goal#3 - Track Eating and Blood Sugars To help getting myself on track, I need to go ahead and focus on tracking my food. I also need to at least test my blood sugar levels once a day. I have been thinking of getting back to keto to get my sugars back in control. That just might be a decision that randomly happens at some point this challenge. I'm just not happy with my current numbers, and I am tired of having to take pills for it. Food wise, I'd like to get myself into the 2500-3000 range. My brain really wants me to go lower to lose weight as quick as I can, but I know I really just need to do the slower grind. Once I get back into more and more exercise, then I will be burning a bit more deficit I am currently in colonoscopy prep. Some limited stuff today, Monday is clear liquids and clear candy I can eat. So I am not worried about this for the next few days. Track Blood sugar at least once a day. Track Calories max 3000. 15 points per day 105 points for the week (week 1 75 points) Goal#4 - Declutter and Spring cleaning all the things I did have a goal last challenge to get through some of my cards and comics. I did actually get through a couple of boxes. Not nearly the amount I wanted to haha. Now with the thoughts of moving, I need to do this, plus all the other things. Really, the first thing I do is probably getting through the cards/comics. Though on weekends and such, it might move to areas of the apartment we attack. Throwing things out, and goodwill a bunch of stuff. 20 minutes a day is a good start. Most likely, I will spend much more time on things, but telling myself 10 or 20 minutes sounds better haha. 20 minutes a day decluttering 5 points a day 35 points for the week. Challenge Points: Week 1 (07/31 - 08/06) - 0/215 Week 2 (08/07 - 08/13) - 0/245 Week 3 (08/14 - 08/20) - 0/245 Week 4 (08/21 - 08/27) - 0/245 Week 5 (08/28 - 09/03) - 0/245 Total challenge points - 0/1195 Measurements: Chest - Waist - Bicep (L) - Bicep (R) - Thigh (L) - Thigh (R) - Weight - And there is the challenge. Good luck to everyone, and hopefully I can be around for the entire challenge

Hello all! Yup, I pulled my disappearing act at the end of the last challenge again. Whoops? I know, I know. It's becoming a bad habit. Long story short, our attempt at an egg retrieval to start IVF failed miserably and I was both very angry about that and super hormonal from all the meds I'd been injecting into my belly 3 times a day and ended up just kinda shutting down in some ways while I processed all of that. I've been back on my feet for a few days now but was busy cleaning up a few other messes I needed to deal with and getting ready for the school year instead of posting here. Which, on that note, school is coming up fast! My son and husband go back on August 8th but I don't go back until August 15th which is kinda nice. I've been getting more focused on putting curriculum stuff together and we're stopping by my classroom later this week to get some prep done in there as well. This is mostly of importance here for scheduling purposes - it's always a tiny bit jarring to have to shift my schedule back to "normal" at the start of the new year! But I still have a few ideas to help me get my body ready for the next attempt at an egg retrieval (though we still don't know when that might be) as well as to make progress on my general life goals: Quest 1: Move! It remains to be seen if I will be able to start running again this challenge or not - it depends on the results of my ultrasound on August 12th. But seeing as I only made it to barely over 20 miles last challenge, and I'm going to be way shorter on time this challenge, I'm going to aim for 15 miles to start and will bump it up if I manage to hit it early. Quest 2: Eat! I'm still going to cook at least 1x a week but my Diet Coke addiction is starting to reappear - I did a good job of knocking it down last challenge, but I didn't do a good job of keeping up with that while I was in my grumpy hormonal funk. So I'm starting with what I hope is a fairly simple challenge - no more than 3 Diet Cokes every 2 days. Hopefully I will feel good about cutting that down as the challenge progresses but I think one reason I couldn't get it to stick at the end of last challenge was that I was making myself reduce every week, which left me feeling rather reluctant about it a few times. So hopefully slowing that down will help it stick better. Quest 3: Live! My primary life goals for this challenge are going to focus on languages and sewing: For Spanish: 1. finish reading Me llamo María Isabel, read all of Judy Moody es doctora, and start Lety alza su voz 2. write at least 1,000 words (on any topic, for any purpose) 3. watch at least 10 intermediate or advanced Dreaming Spanish videos For Japanese: 4. complete at least 2 kana exercises a day to help shake off the rust For sewing: 5. complete the remaining 10 log cabin blocks needed for the block swap 6. make myself a new wrap skirt for the new school year 7. finish the backing for my son's quilt and get it to a longarm service

Hello my friends! It has been a while. Much has happened. Pull up a chair by the fire and I’ll tell you all about my adventures before I set off on this new one. Well, not all, because that would be a little dull. But my goals are very much focused on Moving Forward, so a brief glimpse back might be in order. Feel free to skip to the goals at the clearly defined GOALS section. I won’t mind 😊 If you're reading on, bring snacks. It might be a long one! The title of this challenge sums up how I feel going into this next phase of my life. A warning, none of this is spoilered because I am no longer hiding anything. I have no shame attached to what happened to me and to hide it in a spoiler feels counter-intuitive. However, if it makes you uncomfortable, I sincerely apologise. In May of this year, I faced the biggest challenges of my life. I had to go to court and testify against the man who sexually abused me for years and be cross-examined by his defence. I was not his only victim. All the things I hid away for so long were out in the open. The worst part wasn’t actually testifying. The worst part was watching 2 and a half hours of my video evidence, where I had to go into detail. About everything. I had to pause it an awful lot and had 2 panic attacks before it was over. I am immensely grateful that I wasn’t alone. Another ranger went with me, held my hand and generally stopped me falling apart and doing something… permanent. By this time, my PTSD had reached a stage where, for a very long time, I didn’t think I was going to make it out the other side. I had goodbye letters written out for my loved ones. June and July have passed in a blur. I was *finally* able to get a therapist in place again and began the stumbling path to healing, both from my trauma and grieving Willy’s loss, which hit hard for a lot of people, so I won’t dwell too much on this. Miss you Willes. This gif is for you, the one that makes me think of you and RRDW every time I see it: I also had to deal with the victim impact statement, etc. now that we had a verdict (He was found guilty and just the other week was sentenced. It’s a long sentence, and he has to serve at least 2/3rds of it, a lot of years, before he’s eligible to apply for parole), therapy finally helping to lift me out of the dark place, turning 30 years old, dealing with the mother I cut off trying to force her way back into my life despite being complicit in the abuse… Oh, and I managed to catch COVID after two and a half years of avoiding it at the beginning of July. That was not fun. Luckily, it did not stop me completing my Yorkshire Challenge this weekend (23rd) - 53km of hills, stony terrain, tarmac, moorland and one very friendly kitty cat that I stopped to pet at around 46km but had zero energy to find my phone and take a photo of. I need a lot more training if I'm going to achieve the 100km walks I'm hoping to do next year! Don’t worry. This isn’t a sad story, I promise. I had to go through dark chapters, but we’ve reached the good bits. I am sure of it. Why? Well, for one thing I am no longer suicidal. I realise my power and strength. And I feel like a different person almost. I have so much hope for my future, so much excitement. Because I can be whoever I want to be now. My worst fear is proved false – the world knows absolutely everything about that past, all my ‘secrets’ are out to my friends, and I didn’t lose those people, as I feared. It wasn’t my secret to hold. And now, with renewed strength, and a sense of delight in the world once more, I can go forward and live my happy. Because now I don’t fear life's challenges. There is a confidence that comes from realising – with therapy – that I have overcome challenges harder than anything a person should ever have to. I have faced each one and I have won through every time. Anyway, on to the GOALS! Goal One: Walk from Bree to Weathertop – 110 miles I have decided to restart my In the Footsteps of the Dunedain epic quest. I have been walking a lot but tracking nothing for months. I’ve completed TWO 50km ultra walks without tracking it (RIP my toenail). It feels futile to try and work out where I *should* be, as I’d hit several milestones that would feel a little pointless and restarting from where I was also feels off, since I never actually did do anything for hitting Weathertop. Weathertop IRL felt like getting through my mental health crisis with my life intact, but I’d like to start fresh, with regular tracking, and reclaim the sense of adventure. I’m keeping it to the Challenges though, in serial form. As before, other forms of self-propelled movement will count – hiking, rowing (machine), running (very unlikely!) etc. No horse riding. Namely, because I do not have a horse, nor the inclination to learn to ride properly. I walk around 5km or so most days, so I just need to convert this to miles. And since I now have the ultra walking bug, I foresee 100km hikes in my future and that means a lot more training walks. Miles Walked this Challenge: _ / 110 Goal Two: Stick with the Programme! A few months back, I signed up to NF coaching and it’s great but I’m – not so good at consistency. Yeah, a lot of things happened and the whole court thing really set me back, but my anxiety is getting much more controlled now and it’s time to get back to work. This one is simple – check off every task, trust the process. Quit forgetting the Log my food task. I usually remember around the last bite of food. Daily Quests and Workouts completed: _ / 41 (counting from zero week monday) Goal Three: Devote at least one hour each day to studying Amongst other things, I am currently studying for my MRes (Masters by research) in History and whilst I am not behind, I do need to put in the work. Right now, that’s wading through my source material, and planning out my first chapter. The tasks I need to do for this will vary, my devotion to doing them will not. One hour minimum, and it’s not cumulative. If I do 2 hours one day, I don’t get to skip the next. I have allowed a leeway of 10 days in this challenge for things like weekend events. 1 hour MRes study a day: _ / 31 And that’s it. Simple goals to get me headed in the direction I need to.

Hi, I'm looking for an android app that will track distance walked, not just steps, and doesn't require/give any information regarding body weight or calories consumed/burned. I'm wanting to improve my health and that stuff isn't conducive to good mental health for me! I've looked but I can't find any that fit the criteria that don't use other apps that ask that info (like Google fit). Thank you in advance for your help ❤

Hi All! I did up a brief (re)introduction to myself a few weeks ago over at respawn point a few weeks ago, but always feel weird about starting a challenge late, so didn't do much else, but I'm still in time for the new challenge, so here I am doing the things . . . A very wise (video game) woman once complained about people that "stand in a fire and complain that it is hot". And that is what I have been doing. I complain about how I look. I complain about how I feel. I complain about not being able to keep up with my little hoodlum children. And yet at the end of the day, what do I do but plonk myself down on the inferno of my couch, and add the lighter fluid of ice cream to make the flames just that little bit hotter. So these are my first steps to get out of the damned fire. They may be small, but at least they are something. So, without further exposition .. . my challenges; Goal is to drink at least one of my big bottles of water every day. I know, I know! minimum should be two. But one is better then none, and honestly, once I start drinking water, I always end up drinking more, so better to set my goal to "some" and exceed then to set my goal to "correct" and balk and fail at doing it. Doesn't matter when I do it - I can chug the whole dang thing at 11:59 pm and it will still count. Loot: sticker for my sad, un-adorned water bottle. Why do I want to achieve this goal: hydrate or diedrate, amirite? Feel better, feel less hungry, less headaches, more bathroom breaks, and set a good example for the hoodlums Obstacles in my way: water is gross, tea is delicious Actions needed to achieve my goal; become "that" person and carry water bottle everywhere. Make sure to fill the bottle at the start of the day with tap water from home, which is slightly less awful tasting then water from tap at work. Goal is to stretch and walk at least once every day. I sit too much and everything hurts. I'd love to commit to regular multiple work outs a week. I am not there yet. I want to be, but it took me months to work up to that before. I think I keep failing at my attempts to respawn cause I am trying to jump in whole hog. So lets work on the incremental change. Walks can be any time, anywhere - I lose momentum when I try to "schedule" it for early in the morning, then feel bad about not being able to get out of bed. Bonus points if I take the kids or the dog with me. Streching can be morning or night, or even at desk during the day. Loot: fake hair scrunchie (not at all related to the challenge, but really want one, so yah motivation!!) Why do I want to achieve this goal: More movement, less ouchie. More calories out. Get body ready to eventually start work outs again. Set a good example Obstacles in my way: Sleeping in, refusing to get up from my desk at work, stretches that don't suit my needs, Actions needed to achieve this goal: keep experimenting with stretches till I find some that I really like, remember I've got the world's cutest dog who deserves walkies, set alarms on my phone to remind me to take my breaks Goal is to track all the things. It may seem low-tech and harder to do then keeping it in an app, but for now, track it in my paper planner, just so it's all in one place. If I need to, I can log it in various apps in my phone and then mark it off in my planner. But I should be at least trying to log it all in once a day. This includes tracking meals (which will be put into an app, but then checkmarked off in the paper planner) Loot: order my new planner early (my year resets in September) and include some "splurge" features in it. Why do I want to acheive this goal: There is no point drinking water and stretching/walking if I don't see that I am doing it. If I forget to log it a day, I eventually spiral into not doing it. And if I physically see how much I have eaten, it's easier for me to make the decision to not eat more. I can't argue with cold hard data. Obstacles in my way: taking time to put everything in the planner, data spread across too many apps. Actions needed to achieve this goal: keep planner on hand at all times. swap out current watch that I love but that I don't like the app, with one of my old fitbits I will try to post here regularly-ish with updates. Expect Gifs, anecdotes of the offspring, and maybe even pictures of the dog for she is cute and needs a bigger fan club

As Julie finished unpacking and settling into her new home, started exploring the nearby landscape, and made an effort to take care of herself, she felt herself brightening again. And the crows watched. She walked home, grocery bags in hand, enjoying the beautiful summer day. It's not the swamp, but this too is a beautiful place. And the crow did say that I would need to spread my wings, so to speak. She smiles to herself at the pun. I'm sure there are lots of weird problems to solve here too. I just haven't found them yet. Though I should probably.... She stopped, taking a seat on the kerb. Her arms ached. She didn't remember groceries feeling this heavy before. She caught a flicker of motion above and to the right. On the big Giant Tiger sign, above the proud declaration that canned corn was but 88¢ this week sat... a crow. She squinted. Was it... what had Master Tun called him... Sparky? She watched as he pecked at the logo. No, just one part of the logo. The eye. Of... the tiger. She laughed as she put it together. Of course, just what she needed! A training montage! She picked up the groceries again and continued home, a spring in her step. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been reading bits of the story I wrote when I first started out on here. I had a lot of fun with it. I'm not sure why I stopped. The story arc I wrote at that time was leading up to the Big Walk I'd been planning, so it would have ended anyway. But no reason for the adventures to stop! In a shocking turn of events, I'm actually going to focus on fitness this challenge. My exercise habits are very lax, I have an itch in the work-on-a-cool-human-trick direction, and I'm still hoping to pull off, if not the walk across Ottawa (might be a bit much with a weeklong event not long before I'd have to set out), some other big walking goal. STR: My annual goal says, more or less, exercise daily and make a list of interesting moves to work towards. Sounds good for this challenge round. Might pick one to work on before I make the list though. DEX: Is also about building a list of skills, and a skill tree to build up to more challenging moves. Let's do it. CON: Walking. Food. Both good. Keep walking every day, unless there's a really good reason not to (like a thunderstorm). My current step count averages at about 5000 steps per day, with wild variance between days I don't work and days I do. Goal: get the weekly average up to 7500/day, and break 10,000 twice a week. Oh, and I'll also need to buy new shoes. 😅 INT: Continue on my reading plan. Currently reading Just One Damned Thing After Another. Non-fiction title for the month still undecided. (Mostly dickering between The Border by Erika Fatland and How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil.) WIS: Continue to work on making scripture reading a daily habit. Trying to link it with my Duolingo, which is a solid established habit at this point. CHA: I have a mental health type book. I think it will be useful. I'm also in an online CBT program. Do something from the book every day (reading or an activity), and the readings/activities my program assigns me. Occ: Respect the work/practice time I have set aside for myself by actually doing them. Art: my paperwork stack is two feet tall, and my try pile is cluttering up my closet. One item from each per day acted upon. Also, daily fiddle practice. @WhiteGhost and my long-planned mini-concert is going to be a beautiful disaster, but I want to hold up my end as best I can. Might pick a goal song this challenge too. Depends on how much of a struggle the daily practice is. Lang: Just keep on keeping on.

Battle for the Shinies The objective of the battle is to gain the mountain and obtain the precious treasures of lifting, writing, painting, walking, cooking and spirit work. The enemies: fatigue, emotional resistance, distraction addiction, hopelessness The weapons: axe of strength, sword of courage, staff of clarity, reflective shield Skirmish Four: Marching and Net Evasion I have repeatedly overstretched my forces in order to broach new territory, which has resulted in me being unable to hold the ground I have taken. I must adapt my strategy to the fact that my army is quite small, and the ponies have rather short legs. What I need to do is move slowly, not attempting to capture new ground before establishing a firm defence of existing territory. I will add one habit at a time, and work on each for a long time, in order to gain the benefits of automaticity. Last challenge I abandoned my more complex goals and just made it my goal to walk first thing in the morning, after feeding the cats but before my first cup of tea. This challenge I will continue walking. Zero week will bring me up to a month of unbroken walks. For the rest of the challenge, I need to get away from aimless browsing. Some sort of internet ban is in order, and I will spend zero week reflecting on this before deciding on the details.

[Preamble] Welcome to Owlshire, a beautiful woodland property in the Forest of Dean, England. I’m a 42 year old American woman living here with my British husband (Mr) and pre-school son (Enting). I work in gamedev and when I’m not doing that, I’m tending to my garden, doing needlework of some sort, writing, playing games (of various sorts), and exploring our local woodlands. However, this challenge will involve a lot of time away from home…. [Challenges] Zero Week we are headed off across the country for a wedding and will be away for 4 days. During Weeks 2-4, we will be headed across the globe to attend my father’s memorial hike in the US, staying a bit extra to reconnect with family and friends that we’ve been separated from due to life and pandemics. And in the spaces in between we’re going to be preparing and catching up on what’s fallen behind at home. … so I’m keeping this challenge very simple. Organize: Keep using the planner every day. I started it again a couple of weeks ago and it’s been so helpful. Keep on top of travel-related organization. This has its own planner… Continue to Mordor: I will aim for 30 miles walked on a week (average). 435 miles left to Mordor… my goal is to reach it by November. Hobbit in Attitude, not in Width: I’m starting this challenge with a BMI of 22. My goal this challenge is to be the same or less by the end of the challenge. I have a longer term ambition to get to 21 BMI, but at the moment I’m focusing on maintenance. I will check in weekly on Mondays or thereabouts, optional when I’m traveling.