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Since during the last challenge I was channeling earthbender stubbornness and determination, I think this one calls for waterbending adaptability. Water is the element of change, and dog knows I need to make some changes before uni starts again. Goal #1: Light as Vapor I've managed to get from 67kg to 61.8kg in three months, but I still need to lose a few more so I can bulk a bit without going over the limit of my TKD weight class. The goal is to get to 59.0 kg. It should be doable, but I've been stuck at my current weight for over a week now, so I need to figure out how to get it moving again. Goal #2: Hard as Ice Aka, Conquer the Damn Bench Press. That lift has been such an issue for me, and on top of that, I pulled my pectoral and serratus anterior benching a couple of weeks ago, so last time I was at the gym, I had to use <10kg baby dumbbells. I'm planning to restart with the bar and work my way up to 3x5x25kg, which I know is not a huge increment but I just want to see some progress, even a little. Goal #3: Still Waters I'm a bad sleeper. I had unexplainable insomnia that lasted for months and still rears its ugly head occasionally. I'm also such a nightowl I can't fall asleep if I try it before midnight, and/or I can't stay asleep. And sometimes I just stay up playing games/writing/drawing/doing nothing productive on the internet. But all that needs to stop because I cannot function without adequate amount of sleep anymore (I could when I was younger, guess I've officially grown old...). So I aim to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night, which should also time my sleep cycles so that I'd wake up a bit less groggy. Life Goal #4: Save the Fish, Keep the Ocean Clean The ocean, in this case, being my room and the rest of the apartment. It's honestly such a mess I couldn't even have my friends over. Some of it is because of my lack of energy/time/executive dysfunction, and partially because I'm just not good at keeping my sh*t organized. (One of the reasons I suspect I have ADHD, actually.) So during this challenge, I will 1) clean my room (and the rest of my mess around the apartment) 2) keep it tidy enough that I could have friends over after a quick 5-minute cleanup. I have a feeling that last one is gonna kill me way before any of the actual goals

It's probably almost time to give up the Avatar gifs, but I just can't do it on a waterbending challenge. The last challenge was the thing I needed to do at the time. And mostly, it worked out well. So I need to continue that and level up. I have some signs that physical and mental stress are taking a bit of a toll, so this challenge is about lowering those, while working on my fitness and monkery goals. So I have reasons to think that high physical stress levels are part of my fitness issues, and the mental stress levels, not helping anything. The last challenge helped a bit on the mental side, which is good. I'm thinking about a challenge that is more difficult, while also bringing down that stress. So something like this: Get rid of the scale for a challenge. Weekly measurements.8 hours of sleep. Measured weekly, taking a percentage off my activity tracker. An average under 6 hours is a fail.Three hard strength days. This is actually a reduction in my formal workouts. I'm trying to find a balance between making progress and reducing physical stress.Active rest days. This is where I want my tai chi forms to come in. Good on the mental and physical stress reduction, a mix of gentle cardio, stretching, and strength... a pretty reasonable all-arounder for healthy movement on a rest day. Let's make this measurable: since I'm new to it, three days a week is the goal. We'll see how it goes from there.Ten or twenty minutes a day on something aikido-y, five times a week.Daily meditation. Find a habit trigger for my meditation, so it gets done regularly and early. Reviving the one bit of my challenge I didn't do so well on last time: do a small amount of a stressful task three times a week.That's a lot of points. I should probably distil it down a little. I'm trying some new stuff with my diet this time around. I'm working brown rice and potatoes back in, taking a look at my supplements. (I've been reading some scientific papers on gut flora and weight loss, and I'm curious, so I'm experimenting. It's not too far from my standard diet, just moves some things from "allowed less-harmful cheat" to "allowed".)