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At the end of last challenge, @Manarelle pointed out that if maintenance is a challenge, it's a challenge! So not many changes here: Quest #1: Three workouts per week, at least two with full cool down. I know I've been moaning about how this is going to be hard with my sister here and today just proved it. Tuesday, when she was sleeping, I felt a-ok about working out, even after she woke up. Today she was up before me and I was like, 'OMG EXCUSESSSSS'. WHY AM I SO WEIRD ABOUT WORKING OUT IN FRONT OF PEOPLE. I tried to let myself feel the full measure of disappointment that I missed this, so I can remember that and have more motivation not to miss again. In any case, I got over this with my partner and I'll get over it with her. I am going to share my workout schedule with her so she knows so I have even a bit more accountability and maybe even a buddy sometimes. Quest #2: Lights out by 10:15 pm every night plus get out of bed by 7:25 am. Yup, same as before. I'm trying to sort out what my ideal get-out-of-bed time is. I think it's 7:10, for Reasons that are opaque to me. Today I messed up on these, which contributed to my "omg I am going to skip my workout" issue this morning. Quest #3: Go for a 10 minute walk four days a week. I am groot. I am groot. I am groot. Quest #4: 20 mins on kickstarter, five days a week. The kickstarter ended, it was an amazing success, and...now I have fucktons of work to do! I want to get this done ASAP and keep up the momentum here. BONUS: 10 minutes of writing a day. This is what I wanted for my quest, but it also felt like piling stuff on since I know I'm going to be really focused on the KS reward production. I feel like my mental state is a bit unsteady at the moment; I feel really full of fear and anxiety and questions and hopes and dreams and self-doubt. The only thing that reliably keeps me feeling good about life (other than sleep and exercise and getting outdoors, see above!) is writing, whether it's creative or journaling. So I will get bonus points every day I do 10 minutes of writing. Goals check-in for end of 2017: NEED ACTIVE SUPPORT: WRITING: Finish my poetry kickstarter. DANCE: Finish my dance kickstarter reward. CAREER: Finish the sports card project I've been putting off. AUTO-PILOT/SUPPORTED: HEALTH: Do 104 workouts this year. (79/104, behind by 3) FINANCE: Establish $5k of planned savings. ($1650/$5000) LIFESTYLE/ENVIRONMENT: Read 16 books. (14/16) RELATIONSHIPS/SOCIETY: Finish She Should Run incubator.

INDEX 2017 December 2018 January February March April May June July August September October November December

Unfortunately without the help of Taye Diggs...then again, anything could happen in the next few weeks! Those of you who've been with me for a few challenges have seen me fizzle out a few times. Traveling, getting used to a new full-time job, and working on finishing my master's thesis got the better of me, unfortunately. Besides a trip I got back from yesterday (which is why I'm only now writing this), I don't have any travel planned during this challenge. I've gotten much more used to the new job and managing my time around it. This weekend will be my last big push to make those final little changes to my thesis, and then that'll be taken care of. That means that I really super duper don't have any excuses this time around. I'm focusing on goals that are somewhat basic - because that's what I need to get back to during this challenge to build up a foundation again - but that have the potential to motivate me to go beyond the basic. 1. 10,000 steps a day (on average) Working full time at home makes it easy to barely leave the house, much less get a good amount of exercise in. I need to get outside and move. I got a Misfit Shine (anyone else? I need friends!) and am keeping track of those steps - 10,000 is a somewhat arbitrary number, but it's good to have a goal. Really I'm shooting for 70,000 a week because I know that some days it'll rain or something else will come up - as long as I walk or run more on the other days of the week, I'll still be good. I said that these goals are basic but allow me to go beyond that, and this is a good example of that. 10,000 steps a day is a good basic level of movement, so that's the minimum I'm shooting for. But I can get way more than that in a day, or I can run a few times a week instead of walking to get those steps in... (I'd also like to join my boyfriend on more bike rides [once I get my bike fixed - booo, flat tire!]. If I go on a longer bike ride with him, that can certainly count as my 10,000 steps for the day, and I'll lower the weekly total goal accordingly.) 2. 30 days of yoga I stole this one from Briniel! She did 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene in the last challenge, and I thought it looked like a great series, so...now I'm doing it! Thanks, Briniel! Yoga's one of those things that I do off and on and always wish I did more of. I need more flexibility, more awareness of my body, more calm strength. The goal here is just to complete all 30 days before the end of the challenge, which gives me a few potential days off, but I'd love to not take too many of those days off so I can get them done even sooner and maybe restart the whole thing again (or move on to another series) before the challenge ends. I know some of them are shorter, so I might occasionally even do one in the morning and one in the evening. Who knows! 3. 3/6/10 3 vegetables per day: That's the minimum. More is good! 6 glasses of water per day: I've been really feeling the effects of not drinking enough water lately. Time to hydrate. No (computer/smartphone) screens after 10 p.m.: Sleep hygiene! This will also encourage me to use that time for productive things like reading, cleaning, playing with the cat so he's tired out and sleeps through the night... This is mostly about the computer - my boyfriend and I usually watch TV while we're eating dinner, and we often eat after 10 (I'm trying to change this, but it's often just how our schedules work out), but I feel like the computer is probably more harmful to sleep hygiene because I'm sitting so much closer to it. Am I just making that up? It's definitely more harmful to productivity! I don't usually spend too much time watching TV besides during dinner. (This particular one will kick in next week - this week I'm still catching up from the trip! And it's mostly just for weeknights, but bonus points for also doing it on weekend nights!) 4. Kitchen counter zero (life goal) This is like inbox zero, but for dishes. Each night before I go to bed, the kitchen counter has to be completely clear of dirty dishes - they're either washed or in the dishwasher. Sometimes I let dishes pile up, and they get more and more intimidating (even though I actually sort of like washing dishes), and then it's no fun to cook or bake because there's no room and no clean dishes, and whenever we want to work on cleaning the house, I always feel like I need to focus on the kitchen first and don't actually get to any other part of the house...augh! So keeping the kitchen counter clean at all times will give me some peace of mind and give me more time to actually clean other parts of the house when we get the cleaning bug. --- I've already written a lot, so I'll leave it at that for now! Guys, I'm excited!

Hiiiii! I'm going to say right away that I didn't do totally awesome my first two challenges - but if I combine the things I did achieve in them, they add up to approximately one whole successful challenge...so here I am! I'm traveling for the next three weeks, so I can't commit to anything super ambitious, but I still want to aim for things that I can achieve even with the uncertainty and upended schedules of traveling. Some of these goals may be modified for the second three weeks when I'm back home. 1. Go for a run at least three times a week. I'm thinking about probably running a half on September 20th, so I have to get my butt back in gear. 2. Drink at least four glasses of water a day. I haven't been very good about water lately, and hydration is even more important while traveling. 3. Eat at least three servings of vegetables a day. Guys...I'm going to eat a lot of not-totally-healthy stuff over the next few weeks. I've missed a lot of food from the US, and I can't deny that I'm going to satisfy some of those cravings. Still, I'm going to shoot for at least three vegetables a day to make sure I still get some actual vitamins in and maybe have a little less room in my stomach for the so-good-but-so-bad stuff. 4 (life 1). No screens after 9 p.m. whenever possible. I need to work on my sleep hygiene, and I'll be starting work earlier and therefore need to go to bed (and actually fall asleep) earlier while I'm back in the US. I added "whenever possible" because I'm not going to say no to a movie night with friends or family, and I have a work event the first week of August that could definitely involve screens after 9. 5 (life 2). Work on my thesis for at least half an hour each day. This one has been rough my first two challenges, so for now, at least, I'm trying to make the bar to success so low that there's no good reason for not achieving it. Half an hour?!? That's nothing! Okay! Let's doooooooo this!

Challenge the 2nd: Reconnaissance, support, & escalation Recon: gather info (not underpants!) Support: maintain what's already established Escalation: take it up a notch! This challenge is about not getting hurt as I move up to Level 2 in Steve's Rebel Fitness Guide, finding out if there's any patterns to what I eat, adding supplements which have been helpful in the past, and conquering that one goal I bombed last challenge. Support (Nutrition): CON 2 Take Ultimate Greenzone supplements Take an omega-3 (evening primrose oil?) Reconnoitre (Nutrition): WIS 3 Track calories Track one macronutrient (carbs?) Support & Escalate (Fitness): STR 2 STA 2 Build on 1st challenge workout habits: A: Move up a level in Rebel Fitness Guide B: Hold myself back in the intervals dept. don't run more than once a week (this has been a problem area for me - I take on too much too fast and get hurt.) C: Have an injury-free challenge pay attention to my body do back exercises daily (@ night?) never skip a stretching session post-exercise explore a nighttime stretching routine ice and massage shins post running workouts Reconnoitre & Escalate (Lifestyle): CON 3 WIS 3 Sleep hygiene A: Decide upon morning & bedtime routines in less than 2 weeks B: Practice routines at least once a week in weeks 3-6 C: Track sleep (and other factors) daily using Optimism app This is a rough draft of my challenge; I'll polish it up nice and shiny and post a grading scale. My attributes are locked in, and the general challenge statements are set; I want to tweak the minutia a little more. Here we go! EULALIAAAAA!