Rey of Light's Journey: Nascence

[FatboySuave]

 

[Bookish Badger]

On 12/1/2017 at 9:16 AM, Rey of Light said:

But if you guys have recommendations, I'm totally willing to give them a shot.

 

I'm kind of a podcast newbie myself. I've just started listening to "Lore" and "Myths and Legends." 

[FatboySuave]

19 hours ago, Bookish Badger said:

I've just started listening to "Lore" and "Myths and Legends." 

 

Lore was suggested to me too, but I haven't listened yet. I'll have to check it out. I don't think I've heard of Myths and Legends, but I'll definitely check it out too. Another one I like is RadioLab.

[FatboySuave]

My weekend was pretty uneventful. That was until I decided out of the blue to get a Nintendo Switch! lol. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and decided to just throw it on my credit card as an early Christmas gift to myself and pay it off over time — something for future Richard to deal with while present Richard plays games, lol. I got Zelda Breath of the Wild, and it is such an amazing game! It's so beautiful visually and there's so much to explore. I still haven't quite gotten the fight mechanics/controls down yet. Every time I try to pull out my shield, I end up crouching, lol. I've also died several times in silly ways, primarily falling off tall things, lol. I've justified the purchase by telling myself that treating myself is a form of self care, lol. But the game genuinely does bring me joy. And I'm excited to share games with friends. I don't want it to become an excuse to veg out and play solo in the dark. I really want to use it as a means for connecting with others. And I'm gonna try hard to limit my time on it so it doesn't get in the way of my challenge quests.

[FatboySuave]

Week 1 Recap

 

Quest 1 - Workouts: F (Haven't yet found the will to workout. I think I might actually be a little scared because I know I've lost a lot of progress and I'm afraid to find out how much).

 

Quest 2 - Walks: C (Took Booklet on a few walks, but I can definitely do better.)

Quest 3 - Alcohol: B

Quest 4 - Diet: F (Thanksgiving leftovers and lack of meal prep hurt me here. But I'm getting back into the swing of things.)

Week 1 Grade: D+

 

Definitely not a great first week, but I'm easing back into my quests. Baby steps! I'm not going to beat myself up about the grades. It's important for me to calculate them though as a means of accountability. Ohe positive side, I updated my battle log every day for the week! That's definitely a win! So these grades don't necessarily reflect the progress I'm making, but that's OK. As I work on rebuilding my willpower and discipline, the grades will get better.

[Vibrantella]

18 hours ago, Rey of Light said:

Ohe positive side, I updated my battle log every day for the week! That's definitely a win! So these grades don't necessarily reflect the progress I'm making, but that's OK.

Yep, it's a win!  I also find that sometimes I can't grade my challenges realistically, as the effort may feel huge, even if the result seems rather puny on paper/screen.

 

Regarding podcasts, as I listen to them every morning (walking to work), they have to be inspirational.  The old adage - you are the average of 5 people you spend the most time with - so, I spend my time with Mark Sisson (MarksDailyApple), Katy Bowman (Move Your DNA), Jason Fung (The Obesity Code), Dave Asprey (Bulletproof) and similar.

[FatboySuave]

4 hours ago, Vibrantella said:

The old adage - you are the average of 5 people you spend the most time with - so, I spend my time with Mark Sisson (MarksDailyApple), Katy Bowman (Move Your DNA), Jason Fung (The Obesity Code), Dave Asprey (Bulletproof) and similar.

 

I haven't heard of any of these, so I'll definitely check them out! I've been hoping to find an inspirational podcast. I tried the Art of Manliness for a bit. It tackles a variety of topics on self improvement, but most of the episodes just felt like advertisements for whatever guest was featured. It didn't feel particularly engaging for me.

[Vibrantella]

To clarify my earlier comment, I mean inspirational for food and fitness - as in my personal circle I don't have people who could be role models. Here are some links:

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/blog/

https://blog.bulletproof.com/

https://nutritiousmovement.com/blog/

 

[Murphy's Roommate]

Whenever I play computer games, I loose most of my lives to falling off of things as well.  I'm pretty okay in real life, I just don't spend exp on using my thumbs to navigate the world.  This will come back to bite me, I am sure, when I have to drive a car using a console controller, for some unknown reason, someday. 

 

Mark's Daily Apple is awesome - great food, great mindset.  Positive all the way around!

 

- Murphy's Roommate

[JessOfAllTrades]

I definitely hear you on the workouts. My singular workout last week was just a quick cardio session because I'm scared to pick up something heavy and see how much I've lost. And I kinda did something similar yesterday. 

 

But yay for the Switch purchase! My partner and I are going in on a Switch for Christmas. I cannot wait.

[FatboySuave]

Week 2 Recap

 

I don't have much to report. I fudged my battle log without realizing, so I can't really give myself an accurate grade. However, I know I did really well on the dieting front, but I didn't do any walking or workouts. I'm probably in the D territory. I'll do better this week.

 

The Switch has consumed my life, lol. Breath of the Wild has taken my breath away. I can't stop playing. I feel like a born-again gamer. I love getting lost and just exploring. There's so much to do and see, so I'm taking my time and wandering around as much as possible. It's so much fun.

 

On the mental health front, I'm feeling really good. Ever since I switched to these new meds, I've been feeling clear headed. So that's really promising. I'm scheduled to see my therapist tomorrow. I haven't seen her in almost two months because she called in twice before. But because I've been feeling so good, I don't know what we're even gonna talk about, lol. We may end up doing some form of guided meditation or EFT — at least, that was the plan a month ago, so we'll see.

[FatboySuave]

Saw my therapist yesterday for the first time in almost two months. She was extremely apologetic for having to cancel twice in a row, and we pretty much just spent time catching up. I told her I've been feeling much better since I switched meds, and she was very relieved, because the last time I saw her I was feeling pretty low. She was glad to hear I'd been finding joy in gaming again. Just what the doctor prescribed, lol! She asked me about work and whether I yelled at anyone recently like I did a few weeks back, which I almost forgot about, lol.

 

I told her I've been learning to let things go at work. For example, if I get annoyed or upset about a story, I will allow myself to just not read it and move it along to the next editor. Nobody really cares enough to notice. My whole thinking is: Why stress myself out so much trying to improve things when the reporters don't care enough to do quality work in the first place? It leaves me feeling out of control, especially when reporters ignore my emails and advice. It also makes me second guess myself. Am I not as good an editor as I think I am? Are my ideas not good? Is that why my boss never wants to try anything I suggest? It's those kinds of thoughts that really get to me. So rather than stress about it, I'm trying to let it go. If the paper is shitty, so be it. When I switch back to reporting, I'll be in control of my own work, so I can put as much thought and care into my writing as I can. I won't have to worry about what others are doing or not doing. But for now it's just a waiting game until the cops reporter sells his house and retires.

 

On the challenge front, the dieting is going really well, and I'm seeing a bit of movement on the scale in the right direction. So that's promising. I'm still not doing much physical activity. And to be honest, I just don't want to or feel like it, lol. But I'm OK with that. Again, I'm trying to learn to let things go. I'm not gonna stress myself out with thoughts of things I SHOULD be doing or things I HAVE to do. If I feel like walking or working out, I'll get to it. For now, I'm content with focusing on my mental health, and I feel like I'm making a lot of progress.

 

 

[Murphy's Roommate]

Rey -

 

Professionally, I've run into similar issues.  There are things you can control, and things you can't.  Same for me.  What I can control, I control.  Think death grip.  Think massive OCD memorizing checklists on an elliptical machine.  What I can't, it is hard to let go, and I still try to influence what I can't control, in the end I do what I can and then, you have to let go.  Great work figuring out to learn to let go.  Not easy, not intuitive, important to your well being.  My hairline and overall health wishes I learned that ten years ago.

 

Rock on!

 

 - Murphy's Roommate