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Hello everyone! I kinda bummed out of the last challenge before it ended. My apologies on that. As an update, I ended up falling off the wagon for about a week. So my husband and I bought a new mattress because the old one was making my back hurt. While the new one was super comfortable, I couldn't sleep through the night. I kept waking up over and over again. So, all week I was sleep deprived. There was one night I went to the gym as it was regularly scheduled, and I ended up breaking down crying in the middle of the gym floor. I went and got my stuff and left without working out. That's how sleep deprived I was. So, starting then I said "fuck it" and ordered a pizza. After that, the next day I had a cinnamon roll and some skittles and leftover pizza for dinner. Then after that... you get where this is going. Well, starting this week I've been doing awesome on food, not so much on the gym. So, I'm going to go ahead and start this challenge with my totem: The Wolf. This challenge will be wolf themed, so bring on all the awesome wolf pictures and gifs! For me, the wolf is a symbol for my ferocious nature and need to fight through my challenges as well as protect those close to me. I can also be cute, fluffy, and cuddly at times. Hehe... but I also can bite. I am also going to have this challenge extend through 2 challenges so to speak. So for this challenge set and next challenge set, I'm going to continue to have the same goals to try and change my habits. The reason for this is because I feel that 4 weeks really isn't enough for me. I'm going to turn it in to 8-10 weeks instead (if you include zero week) to try and get those good habits going. I haven't been successful in getting back to where I was, so I'm trying to change it up a bit while still having similar goals. I'm also going to make some goals I plan to reach by the end of 2017 and I want to have my challenges be a way to get me there. So, here's the thing. This first week I am not going to the gym because I'm actually trying to get ready for Epic Nerd Camp (ENC) (Not affiliated with Nerd Fitness). I leave on Saturday and will be back on Wednesday night. This week I'm packing and getting everything ready, so I really don't have time for the gym. I AM trying to walk more during the week though while at work. That's one of my goals. Moving more. However, I'll get to that in a minute. So let's get this started!!!!! Goals for the end of 2017: I think these are goals I can reasonably accomplish in the next 4 months. The hardest ones are going to be the last two. I'm going to up my game though and fight to get there! I haven't lost any weight in a long while. It's time to push harder! Goals for this Challenge: Goal 1: No more than 2 variances per week A variance in this case is considered anything that is not healthy. If I go out to eat, but I choose a healthier option than I normally would, that does not count as a variance. If I have a sweet treat or dessert, that counts as a variance. No more than 2 per week (Excluding my vacation week). Goal 2: Work out 3 times per week I think I've been looking at this the wrong way, so I'm going to change it up for now. In the past my goal has been to go to the gym 2-4 times a week depending on the challenge. If there's some reason I can't make it to the gym, I instead just don't work out at all. For this challenge I'm going to consider doing body weight exercises at home or swimming laps in my pool a work out as long as it is at least 30 minutes of continuous activity. Goal 3: get at least 7,000 steps a day One of my problems I think is that I've stopped getting up and moving. I need to get up and move more. At work, I sit at a desk all day. I need to get up during the day and move around. When I do that I have more energy and can take care of more things. I have more energy and am more productive. So, to start, I'm going to try and get back to doing at least 7,000 steps a day. Goal 4: Report to my Accountabilibuddies daily I will not only be updating this every day that I can, I will talk on chat with my accountabilibuddies every day and tell them what I am going to do to set myself up for success that day. We do that most days, but I have been slacking on checking in with them. I think with more support I'll be more successful. Ok, let's do this!!!!

Destiny Island Zone 1 (February 15 - 28) Core Objectives Explore the Zone - Run 7 Miles Keep the HP Up - Drink 56 Healing Potions (16 oz water bottles) Get to the Healing Ports - Spend 104 Hours Relaxing in a Healing Port (Bed / Equivalent) Kill the Heartless: Hit 1000 minions and 10 mini-bosses with my Keyblade (Mini-Bosses are difficult responsible things to do, minions are words written on my work projects.) How I Play Every Challenge, I'm going to post a new topic, talking about the Zone that I'm in. Each Zone revolves around a few core objectives - each specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely, measured in the frame of four weeks. But it is not held within the temporal bounds of those four weeks. Nor do these topics - and the number of challenge-coinciding topics I've completed - decide when I Level Up. (They do In fact, I don't really "Level Up" at all. My Weapon Leveling happens however fast it happens, and is based on a completely different system, detailed in the following section. Back to these Zones. So for instance! This first challenge is measured for the exact two remaining weeks. My intention is to walk 0.5 miles a day... but it's an average, not a hit and miss. So, 0.5 miles average for 14 days is 7 miles. So my Destiny Island (Walk-to-Mordor) objective is 7 miles. If I hit 7 miles, 56 healing potions, 104 hours of Healing Ports, and 1400 words on projects on the intended measured day of the 28th (a breakdown of 0.5 miles, 64 oz, 8 hours, and 100 words a day) then, perfect! I begin the next Zone on the first day of the new Challenge Sector. If I hit 7 miles before the others have reached their Zone 1 objective, I can start moving into the Zone 2 correlating objective. If I hit 7 miles, 56 potions, 104 hours, and 1400 words each before the 28th, then I'll open my Zone 2 challenge in this thread, and re-announce my Zone 2 challenge and progress there-in when I start my new Challenge Thread on the 29th. And if I haven't completed all of them when the 28th ends? Then I open my new challenge as a continuation of Zone 1, until the point when I move into Zone 2. No such thing as failure. Only progress. My Weapons The following are statements I desire to be true - some of which are partly or even completely true! But each aspect is something that makes me excited to think about it. I will not be leveling up. Each of these interests will be leveling up, separately, as they gain experience points. Athletic Skills (My body is confident in...) - Partner Dance - Spirit Dance - Aikido React (in response to tantrums or thoughtless physicality, in physical play, in grounding ease) - Aikido Fall / Land / Roll - Use of a Bo Staff - Gymnastics - Original Play / Lion Cub Wrestling - Zumba Dance - Passion Running - QM (Quadrupedal Movement) - Hunt / Free-Fly Nature Parkour Knowledge Domains (I know a lot about...) - Gamification Psychology - Developmental Psychology - Motivational Psychology - Childhood Education / Psychology - Community Building Games - Ancient Civilization Myths, Gods, Creatures, and Stories - Zumba Choreography (The Set) - Performance Choreography - The Musical/Princess Disney Movies (Details, Lyrics/Lines, etc.) - Neurochemicals - Psychological / Neurochemical Mis-wiring and Re-organizing Craft Skills (I'm very good at making...) - Personal, Relatable, Performable, and Catchy Songs (Original Songwriting) - Parodies (Parody Songwriting) - YouTube Videos - New Dress Designs (Dress Design) - Dresses (Sewing / Fabric Handling) - Original Games (Game Invention) - Italian Food - A Variation of Soups - Royal Breakfasts - Holiday Meals - Beauty War-Paint Masterpieces Presence Skills (I have a cultivated talent for...) - Emotional Aikido Separation - Impassioned Connection - Courage of Visibility - Motivational Speaking - Networking - Piano Performance - Guitar Performance - Jazz Singing - Show Singing - Holiday Carols / Chorale Singing Communication Skills (I can speak...) - Spanish - ASL - French - Chinese - Japanese - Italian - Upper Class (English) - Thespian (English) - Millennial (English) - Child (English) - Play Language - Directing - Group Coordination and Organization - Large Group Activity-Direction and Management Self Care Experience (I am capable and knowledgable about...) - Self-Comfort - Supportive Structure - Environmental Psychology & Interior Design - A.D.H.D. - Habit Psychology and - Sex (Safety and Knowledge) Bridge Domains (I can talk about my specialties in their relation to...) - Classic Science - Hank Stuff (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Meteorology, etc.) - Human Understanding - John Stuff (Literature, History, Sociology, Philosophy, etc.) - Current Events (News, Politics and Goverment, Current Situations, etc.) - Economics The above is the only section that I am NOT excited to learn about - but I am contently interested to learn about and definitely value having those weapons in my belt.

Hi everybody! Sorry for disappearing in October/September or something. Life just kinda happened and hit me in the face. But I am here, now, so yays for that:) The Path to Adventure Starts Here Do The Practice, every day if possible, or at least five days a week.The Practice includes five importaint aspects:Writing wishes, gwishes and intentions. Or even just journaling. Moving every day (like yoga 2-7 times a week, body weight strenght/HIIT session twice a week, learning awareness through movement – Feldenkrais method –, and doing TRE (Trauma release exercises). Walking is also an perfectly suitable activity. Doing something FUN! and preferably geeky and/or social every day Sitting down and shuting up (including both 10min of mediation and real pauses without any distractions besides the view outside my window and a cup of coffee) Thinking things through, even though this point is sort of implied by the others, I find it important to remind myself of this. Thinking ---> creating ---> being me.Apply for ALL THE JOBS, ALL THE GRANTS AND ALL THE FUN Start with babysteps doing the Ronin Life, aka The Impossible (my-not-so-secret-agent-code-for-current-life-quest).Figuring out how the game is rigged and how to apply all my fairy-dust-amazing-skills at this.Ronin Life is the Impossible, and the Impossible is where all the magic happens. Details might be revealed later, or not Three sparklepoints (***) for each thing done. The point is to collect as much sparkle as possible! - I don't do grades. Main Obstacles The game is rigged; computers die, printers die and you miss the plain. Stuff happens.The poisonous protein that everyone is eating and using all the time without giving it a second thought. At the start of the month I'll travel to Amsterdam for a couple of days (visiting the Van Gogh Museum and taking pictures! :D ) and are probably going to put my health and fate in the hands of strangers. It'll be interesting.Monster revolts, aka crippling self-doubt and major melt-downs of I can't do this. My own forgetfulness, or habit of down-prioritize self-care (aka The Practice) when I am stressed out/really busy. About me 25 years old. Currently doing a part-time MA in Political Science. Had a really bad case of untreated coeliac (celiac disease) that messed with my head, body and mind for possibly a decade. I am still in the progress of putting my life back together. Happy New Year and wishing you all the best with your challenges!

Hi Everybody, I am back! I think this is my fourth-ish challenge. For this one I was originally planning to leave the Druid's guild, but since I ended up using most of the previous challenge recovering from pneumonia (which did wreck my... unexsisting master plan), you'll be stuck with me these six-seven weeks as well. [update 31. July: Because I originally named this, and the previous challenge, "Wolf is Rewriting Everything" I've got the freedom and permission to rewrite everything, including this challenge. From now on Wolf is Becoming the Queen of W's!] Recap (What I have (re)learned in the previous challenges): Movement is absolutly nececary to stay (almost) sane and be a decent, functioning human being.Fun is an essensial part of life. Period. Laughter makes everything better.I CAN meditate every day, for more than three days in a row, if I make it an absolute priority like brushing my teeth. Meditation becomes something that simply does happen.I've got some pretty messed up eating habits, where I end up unintentionally starving myself. There is a good chance this was the underlying cause of the pneumonia blast in May/June.This might sound a bit sad and "loser-y"; but I can haz friends in RL! - not just aquaintances and colleagues. Seriosly, I've been secretly afraid that ability got lost in the dark forever, but it is back! Hurrays!I am still slightly in love with NF This Challenge will build upon my last Challenge, which got slightly lost beacuse of illness, France and poor internet connection. Wilderness 1. Wilderness of the mind: Meditate every day. Zazen, Yoga Nirdra, Tonglen or any guided meditation practies. The emphasis is not on what kind of meditation that happens, but that it does happen. Daily. 2. There is no Wilderness, but I can feel it still: Go for a walk or hike at least two times a week. When back in Oslo go to Marka (the woods and hills surrounding the Norwegian capital) at least once a week. - which will be a real challenge, since I usually never go there Wishes I am working on a thing [the rest of my life], and answering five questions concerning that thing will make the thing a lot clearer. I am all for clarity. And for doing this every day. Weaknesses The most important part is to keep my daily yoga practice going. I am still really weak after the whole pneumonia thing, and my stamina is next to nothing, but at least there is a whole lot of room for imporovement. This challenge I'll focus on three things: 1. My legs have always been my weakest point. Even though my balance have always been good (growing up on a horse's back kinda takes care of that), my legs have never really gotten the attention they deserve. Even though the years of dance lessons and using a bicycle as my main transportation helped for a while, they are still weaker than most people's legs (in compairson to their upperbody strenght, and I am currently not strong no matter how you put it (yet... ). So I can do handstands but not long warrior sequenses. This got to change. So now I am actually making myself do more standing poses, and choosing styles and routines which focuse more on being on one or two feet instead of all fours or upside down. 2. For years my hamstrings have gotten tighter and tighter. Now I am trying to reverse that path. I am hoping to add at least 1 hour yin yoga in addition to everything else every week. Long term plan is being able doing the splits again (because I DO love that feeling), but that won't happen in a while. 3. Like my hamstrings, which used to be really flexible, my shoulders are also getting stiffer and less cooperative. So I'll do this Ekhart Shoulder Opening sequence at least three times a week, and possible other things as well - we'll see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppToA1N0CgE Widdershins This is about doing things differently, or stright out opposite of what I am used to. For years I've been living after the saying "geniet behersker kaos", which roughly translates into that people who are geniuses have no problems (and are even able thriving in it) with chaos. And since I love chaos, I must secretly be a genius. Right? Nah. Anyways, I am using this challenge as an opertunity to learning how to track my progress, and in general be a bit more systematic in my approach to life. The reason I am making this a goal is not that I've suddenly found a way that lists, plans and spreadcheats canactually work for me (I sorta wish I had, though). It is because I need a way of convincing myself that I am doing stuff and making progress. No matter what I say. For starters I've made a nice little table/calendar of all the days of this challenge, with neat little squares for each attainable sparklepoint. And I will colour/put a smilieyface or whatever into each little square as the weeks and days pass. Three sparklepoints, every time any of the above to-do's gets done. Side QuestsI've got a list of 20 things I can do every day that provides an extra sparkle point each.Operation EatMore Enjoy More. Continue reseach, have at least three middle-ish sized or two LARGE meals every day. Keep up the occational body weight rutine (1-2 times a week), make sure to get enough calories. Rice is not off limits anymore. I am hereby giving myself premission to modify my paleo-template in any health gaining way, that will make sure I some day (soon) stop being underweight.The Impossible List. - more details will come eventually Good luck everyone!

[Explicit] I have been a long time away from NF, and a long time putting fitness on the back burner. It's time that I stop letting my excuses pile up and hold me down. It's time to stop letting the greedy little piggy whisper in my ear. I am the wolf, so let the games begin. Rule 1) Run 3x A Week [sTA +5] Rule 2) No Booze. [CON +5] Rule 3) Update 3x A Week. [WIS +2] Rule 4) Create A Routine. [WIS +3] These chains are heavy, if I'm going get them off it's going to happen one link at a time.

Hi everyone! A new challenge, a new beginning, brand new possibilities. The previous challenge really taught me how important it is to keep some basic fundations in place, for everything else to work properly. So this time around I'll keep my focus on the basic things that make me a kinder, healther, more functional human being. The recipie is simple: Write. Laugh. Play. Sit quietly. Think. Summer is here! For me it means one thing: packing up my dearest belongings and going off to my grandma's house. She's like the kindest person ever, who lets me live with her (for free) while I am working as a tourist guide at the town's museum. The main museum/tourist season starts a week into the challenge, so most of my days will be spent at the edge of the world (aka close to Russia and the North Atlantic Ocean) making waffels and talking about migration, fishing culture, and peat. There will be a lot of familiy everywhere, people I've not seen for a year etc, and there's the added stress of living in someone elses home over an extended period of time. This challenge is created with the intention of enchanting enjoyment in and of all this. And making myself take time off, because I know I'll be needing it.. Think and Sit quietly Ten mintutes of meditation everyday At least five minutes of deliberatly starring into the air, out the window, or whereever without guilt or distracting myself with [screens or people]. Gives three Sparklepoints each. Laugh and Play On one side this is a very physical goal of wanting to actually be able doing a whole 1.5 hour forrest yoga session. I can now do the one-hour classes I've got avilable (yays!), but the practice is very intense. And due to how my body works, really intense exercice usually makes me sick. So, I've got to be smart about this. do yoga every day (even five minutes in baddha konasana counts): three sparklepointsWalk/cycle everywheredo 1-hour forrest yoga classes at least three times a weekWaiting until week four with trying a full 1.5-hour class (if/when successs an instant 50-sparklepoint-bonus!)On the other side there is the little things. Like remembering to check in on my Ukulele and unicycle (so the last challenge won't be a total waste), and playing with dogs and eat icecream.Write Writing something everyday. Just something simple as To-do-lists, shopping-lists or a haiku is better than nothing. Ranting here is perfectly fine as well. The thing is, I'll spend the next year writing things, my MA theisis for instance, so I might as well make it a joyus habit now. It will make everything else easier later on. Gives three Sparklepoints each time done. Sidequest1: Foodtracking. Sooo, turns out I am underweight. After a resent dare, I despise bathroom weights thank you very much, I realized I am weighing the same now as I did as a teenager. And while being a fairly skinny teenager is ok, carrying those very same kilos as a 25-year-old gives me a BMI that is less than 17. That was a wake up call. Huge one. At least three times a week I'll track my food intake, making sure I am getting enough calories. I haven't desided on tracking method just yet. Gives three sparklepoints for each time done. Sidequest2: Cooking primal for grandma There might be recipies.... All quests somewhat relatemto the following goals for 2015 (quoted from my battle log) Good luck on your challenges everyone!

This is my first challenge, of course, and a major part of my Main Quest is to develop myself enough to be worthy of joining the assassin guild. Main Quest To build lean muscle (to become an assassin) Missions A - Do yoga/stretching for 20 minutes 3 times a week B - Eat high-protein foods 3 times a week (i.e. quinoa, tempeh, tofu, lentils - I eat a plant-based diet and often forget to consume protein-rich foods. I can't eat nuts and peanuts due to kidney stones, so this is something I need to focus on more.) C - Do body weight workout for 1/2 hour 3 times a week Life Quest Draft and pitch script ideas (I'm a writer in real life and always wanted to write a full-length theatrical play. I have a few ideas percolating that need more development and then I need to get a local director I know to consider them!) Motivation To be as healthy, fit and strong as I can be, for myself and my family, both present and future. (No photo - sorry - but fear not. The paper is on my wall next to my laptop and has colourful paw prints and cute sleeping puppies.)