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Welcome to Rose of May's Fall into Fitness, Foundations, and Feeling Good! Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love the colors, smells, weather, and everything that comes with it. What better way to usher in my favorite time of the year than with a challenge to better myself and my lifestyle! This challenge is going to focus on establishing foundations and more concise routines. It will also focus on gaining a healthy and stronger mental foundation in preparation of the approaching winter season. So pull up a floor pillow, grab yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy the sweater weather! Quest One: Changing Leaves "Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." - Elizabeth Lawrence No sitting involved, but this is a time for change. Leaves change and they fall away to make room for the new to grow. I will be looking back to yoga for my method to change. For this quest, I will do yoga for however long I can. I am building strength and stamina back up after letting it go. That said, I must do a minimum of 5 minutes for it to count. Any less and it does not count. Any more? Gold star! Session/progress must be recorded. A: Session of yoga every day C: Session of yoga three days a week D: Session of yoga one day a week F: No yoga. What were you doing??? Quest Two: Tea and Biscuits "Somewhere in the world it's always time for tea." Tea, coffee, warm cider: all lovely drinks to enjoy during the autumn and winter months. Paired with warm breads, biscuits, soups, and other comforting foods? It could be a bit on the dangerous side, too. Eating excessively can happen as a form of comfort, which is why I need to learn to write down things that I eat. I will log all food that goes into my mouth. Did I grab a handful of chips in the middle of the day? Write it down. Did I have a piece of cake for dessert? Write it down. Did I drink a bunch of water? Write it down. Actively log the food that I eat throughout this challenge. as of 9.14.2015 BMR - 1913 BMI - 49.9 Daily - 1890 A: Food logged every day C: Two meals logged every day D: One meal logged every day F: No meals logged. What are you hiding??? Quest Three: A Book a Day "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." - F. Scott Fitzgerald I have fallen out of my reading habit. I use to wake up every morning before everyone else, get a cup of coffee, crawl back into bed, and read until my coffee was either gone or cold. I read the suggestion from one of the many magazines I enjoy and absolutely loved it. It gave me quiet alone time and time to get into a good book. Doing this, I was reading at least three books a week. Since stopping this routine, I haven’t read anything nor have I felt motivated to read. I absolutely HATE feeling this way as I am a huge supporter of reading. A: Read six books C: Read two books D: Read one book F: Read no books. Life Quest: A Change Would Do You Good "Just like seasons, people change." Create a routine for ME. Ask myself why not do it if it’s something I want to do? Also do things that I know will make me feel better regardless of how I’m feeling. Get into a morning and night routine. Get some order in my life so that I can help others work through their struggles but also find a comforting and grounding center when feeling stressed. Morning Routine Up at 7:00 AM Teeth/Shower Dressed Blow dry hair Pre-School Routine Connor up by 8:00 AM Breakfast Layout clothes Lunch Prep Connor Morning Routine Out the door no later than 9:00 AM [Morning and Pre-School routine can be adjusted by an hour. Wake up should still be no later than 8:00 AM. Without pre-school needs, post-school routine can begin and finish earlier. This will give me more time to get some things done around the house and more casual time in the afternoon.] Post-School Routine Dinner prep Dishes/Kitchen Breakfast/Coffee I suspect by this time, it would be close to 10:00 AM. At this time I will focus on cleaning/straightening up the house. I will also address laundry if needed. I will work around the house until 1:00 PM. I will be sure to have a water bottle on the go so that I can stay hydrated and get my necessary water in-take in throughout the day. Afternoon Routine Yoga Lunch I don't want to stick to a hard stop in the afternoon. I don't want to feel rushed when eating or doing yoga. I want this to be a good relaxation time so that I enjoy my yoga session. The rest of the day will be devoted to offering any homework help Connor or Meaghan may need (unless it's Math-related!), computer fun times, and wrapping up dinner things. My goal is also to have dinner ready no later than 6:00 PM. After Dinner Routine Kitchen clean-up Dishes (This should alleviate a lot of work in the morning which will be beneficial should we have any errands to run...etc!) Getting dinner ready by 6:00 PM definitely gives everyone a good amount of time to unwind and relax before bed...etc. On the evenings that Connor has a game at 6:00 PM, I will have dinner ready by 5:00 PM to give him time to eat and digest before the game. I am going to stick with settling in for bed between 10:00 - 11:00 PM during the week. Wiggle room on the weekends/holidays is okay, but I want to keep to my sleep routine. I also use the evening for good unwind and relaxing before the next day. It's important to remind myself that I cannot get down on myself should I not be able to follow this to a perfect tee. There will be days that I will not be home for a good portion of the day. My goal in creating this routine is that on the days that I am home, I get an ample amount done so that on days when I do go out or have errands to run, I won't feel overwhelmed and rushed to get everything done once we get home. I also have to remind myself that there will also be plenty of time for me to have fun or time for myself. The more I stick with this routine and put it into effect, the more days I will have in the future where things won't need to be done. I will have more time for crafting and such. I will also remind myself that stick to this and getting things done with help alleviate stress not only from my shoulders but also my Mom's shoulders. My routine and goals will have a positive effect not only on me, but also my family. I realized this evening that the routine will have some different roads on the weeks that my step-siblings are not here. The need to prep lunches and get little brothers up for school will not be necessary. That said, I have added where things may change for those weeks. Pass/Fail