Search the Community

Lightning Heals in the Mists of Avalon “Avalon will always be there for all men to find if they can seek the way thither, throughout all the ages past the ages. If they cannot find the way to Avalon, it is a sign, perhaps, that they are not ready." ― Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon Wounded and tired, Lightning walks the battlefield in a haze looking for a place to bury her head and decide whether to continue to fight or just surrender. She walks on for hours, unable to find a safe corner to hide and too dazed to know when to stop. Eventually, the haze in her head turns to mist. Mist so thick she wonder's if it is real or if she is so tired that the hallucinations have begun. Unable to see more than a foot in front of her, she walks into something solid and loses her balance. Lightning falls and hits hard. Her head hurts, but it feels so good to lay down, even though she is surrounded by cold, damp wood. A boat. She realizes she has fallen into a small boat, even more, she notices that the boat is starting to move. Lightning tries to sit up, to see who or what is making the boat move. A thin, bony hand reaches it's way out of the mists and a rough, grizzled voice says, "Payment is required to travel to Avalon". As if on instinct, Lightning reaches into her satchel and pulls out a silver coin that she has never seen before. She passes the strange coin onto the stranger and instantly succumbs to her fatigue. Just before sleep takes over she wonders again, should she fight or just surrender. Maybe there is a third option: Heal. This is my first challenge with the Druids. As much as I adore my Assassins, I needed to put my hidden daggers aside and focus on healing. Last month a few too many "life events" hit me and left me trying to fight my way through the four weeks. I see now that I need to flow WITH the events and accept what is. I need to retreat (not surrender) to Avalon and heal so I can be ready for what comes my way. Potions First, I have to heal my gut. A combination of events caused my (mostly) dormant IBS to return with a vengence. It brought with it some bad indigestion and acid reflux that has left my insides broken. What seems to be helping me heal are probiotics and aloe vera juice. Giving up coffee (ouch) has also been a huge difference maker so I have been replacing my coffee with a substitute made out chicory. While I'm not a big soda drinker I do like it in the summer. Soda is another no-no when dealing with acid reflux so I have been drinking Kefir water when I want a little bubbly treat. Goal #1 Probiotics every day Aloe Vera Juice every day Chicory Tea (No Coffee) Water Kefir (No Soda) Feast I usually try to follow paleo/banting for my food choices. This time I'm going to shift things just a little and use the Perfect Health Diet as a guide. I'm not going to worry about macros or even measuring. I WILL write down what I eat to keep me accountable and make sure that I'm following the plan. Goal #2 Write down food and follow PHD Armor While healing my insides I need to continue to protect myself from the outside as well. I am still planning on completing a Warrior Dash in August so I am going to keep things simple and use the 4-week training plan listed on the WD website. No Assassin mini for me this time. I'm keeping it simple. Goal #3 Follow the 4-week Warrior Dash training Meditation I like to use active meditation techniques to help with anxiety. My favorite is coloring but I also really enjoy painting, yoga, and guided meditations too. I haven't been doing this with any consistency so I want to change that. The other thing that helps me with anxiety is prescription medication. When I started having acid problems the medicine seemed cause reflux so I stopped taken it. I need to get back to taking it regularly because it flat out helps me. Goal #4 Any kind of meditation (20 min) 5x a week Take pres. medicine every day Elder Druid Lots of adulting that is going to have to happen this month. Won't go into all the dirty details, I'll just make a list and try and take a deep breath. Insurance Claim Tile Bathroom wall Refinish 4 Kitchen Cabinets Make Dr. Appt Take DD driving (3x a week) Plan & Execute DD's graduation party Help son get out of the house 3x a week Cook with son 1x a week Set up NF t-shirts for the virtual run

Hello All. New here, first challenge. I'm posting this a bit late, but I actually got these started at the beginning of the week, and am on track with everything so far. Main Goal: Get my weight down to 185 lbs (or more accurately, back down to) I've had success in past going low carb paleo when trying to lose weight. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed the rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes when i've been on the perfect health diet (http://perfecthealthdiet.com). So I've decided to try to have the best of both worlds, the weight loss of a low carb approach while still getting to enjoy some carbs, by carb cycling. Basically I'm allowed rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes every other day. Its worked very well so far. Diet Goal: Follow my Carb Cycling for the next four weeks, with less than 40 g of carbs on the low days, and at least 70 g on the high days. My wife and I are running the Copper River Bridge Run, a 10k, in Charleston SC in the beginning of April, so I need to buckle down in my training for that. The plan I'm using to train for it calls for three runs a week of about an hour each, broken up into periods of walking and jogging. As the race gets closer, the jogging gets longer and the walking gets shorter until it disappears completely right before the race. Fitness Goal 1: Run 3 times a week. Strength wise right now I'm following a workout of kettlebell swings and get ups. With the race less than a month away, I only do this on my non-run days. Fitness Goal 2: At least 300 Kettlebell swings a week. Life Goal: Read my One Year Study Bible every day.