Severine: No, But Seriously This Time

[Severine]

This is a fairly accurate depiction of how I feel about disappearing for three months:

 

Needless to say, lots of stressful stuff happened, but I'm not going to bother listing it out, because (1) the details don't really matter (2) most of it is at least partially resolved now and (3) of course bad stuff happened because that's life, and half my problem is that so far I only seem to be able to stick to good self-care routines when things are going smoothly. Obviously, anything that's going to work forever has to work even when shit hits the fan.

 

So here I am, back again. @fleaball texted me to mention that there was a new challenge starting (because she's the best) and although I cringe a little at reinforcing the new year's resolution trope, I have to concede that starting over is what I need to do right now. I've been wanting to do it for weeks now, so here's my chance. I need to get back to taking good care of myself and try to find a routine that works for me.

 

For the past few months I've been taking really poor care of myself and, unfortunately, I can feel the effects. As such, I need to start with pretty modest, basic goals:

• Drink a glass of water and stretch every morning after waking up
• Exercise 30 minutes every day (just walking is fine)
• Daily updating of the food/mood journal that my therapist suggested...which I thus far have failed to start  >.>
• Takeout food once per week maximum
• Go to bed by midnight
• Wear my Fitbit every day (this is more to for motivation and to remind me of my goals than for actual tracking, because it's not 100% accurate)
• Maximum of 3 caffeinated beverages a day (I know this is too much but it's less than I'm drinking now...baby steps)
• Check the forums briefly every day, even if I don't post on my own thread (staying connected on here really helps me stay on track)

 

There are a thousand other things I would like to be doing, such as actual nutrition/macro targets, more ambitious workout plans, give up chocolate again, step count goals, sleeping more, etc. etc. But you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time, right? If the challenge is going fantastically, I'll think about adding in a bonus goal in week 3 or something.

 

There are some new and interesting things going on in my life now, and I try to remind myself that I'll be so much better equipped to make the best of everything if I'm in better shape and have more energy. 

 

For those of you who don't know me, here's a really brief summary. I'm Canadian, but I live in the US (in Boston) and I actually just got my US citizenship in November so I am now a dual citizen. My undergrad was in Latin and Ancient Greek language and literature, and I still enjoy reading Latin literature for fun. I graduated law school, worked for a few years, was overworked and unhappy, and then freelanced for a while before starting to work on a local farm. I ended up loving it, and worked in farming for 6 years, the last year of which I co-founded a small farm with a friend. For various reasons I "retired" from farming in 2017. Since then I've been teaching ESL (something I have done on a part-time volunteer basis on and off since I was in university) to adults at a local community centre. And I just finished a certification in ESL instruction in December. I'm still not 100% sure what I want my 'for real' career to be, which is sometimes exciting and sometimes terrifying. I love reading, camping, learning languages, writing, plant and insect biology, history, rock climbing, music, travel, and spending time with friends in meatspace taking in cultural sights or having muddy and insane outdoor adventures.

[fleaball]

Best title is best. Severine is also best. Whee. 

[Severine]

22 minutes ago, fleaball said:

Best title is best. Severine is also best. Whee. 

 

Nuh, uh! I clearly already said you were the best. Thanks for rescuing me from the mire of my own inertia. 

 

Anyway, it's good to be back among you ne'er-do-wells.

[fleaball]

1 minute ago, Severine said:

 

Nuh, uh! I clearly already said you were the best. Thanks for rescuing me from the mire of my own inertia. 

 

Anyway, it's good to be back among you ne'er-do-wells.

lol I’m glad it worked out! I was like “do I say something? Do I not say something? I know she mentioned coming back but idk if life is still exploded everywhere...” 

 

unrelated but I dropped someone off near your house last week and waved in your general direction.  

[Bean Sidhe]

Welcome back Severine. I know this is going to sound dumb, But I was seriously trying to decide if  it would be okay to bug Flea to see how you were. I literal thought about you and wondered how things were.

I think the challenge looks great and I am excited to see you back.

Anyway, I am going to stop sounding creepy and follow to cheer you on.

[zeroh13]

4 hours ago, fleaball said:

Best title is best. Severine is also best. Whee. 

 

3 hours ago, Severine said:

Nuh, uh! I clearly already said you were the best.

 

Or maybe you're both the best.  Unless you actually want to fight it out for the title.

[Butternut]

Severine, it's good to see you my friend!

 

May the force be with you this challenge. 

 

[fleaball]

1 hour ago, zeroh13 said:

 

 

Or maybe you're both the best.  Unless you actually want to fight it out for the title.

[juliebarkley]

You sound like a super interesting person from you description (and from what I remember, you challenges bear that out). Glad to have you back!

[Severine]

Good to see you again, @Bean Sidhe and @zeroh13 and @Butternut! Thanks for the warm welcome. Expect me to drop in on your threads if I haven't already. It's good to be back.

 

16 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

Welcome back Severine. I know this is going to sound dumb, But I was seriously trying to decide if  it would be okay to bug Flea to see how you were. I literal thought about you and wondered how things were.

 

And sorry for worrying you, Bean. I wish I hadn't flaked out (both because I feel guilty disappearing on people who I want to support, and because it makes it harder for me to stay on track) but I would like things to be different this time.

 

11 hours ago, fleaball said:

 

I am definitely that falling down cat.

 

9 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

You sound like a super interesting person from you description (and from what I remember, you challenges bear that out). Glad to have you back!

 

Hello and thanks! I will come find your thread after new year's day festivities have wound down.

[Severine]

Happy New Year's, everyone!

 

Went with D and L to a nice brunch this morning and we had really fun conversations about our plans for this year, daydreaming about possible holiday destinations, etc. A heartwarming and funny and optimistic way to start off the year. And definitely a lot better than how 2017 started: when the year was only about 7 hours old, I accidentally broke a CFL bulb. So then we had to follow elaborate mercury decontamination protocols that included throwing out linens that got contaminated...so we spent half of New Year's Day cleaning up hazardous chemicals and then shopping for sheets and a new duvet. I don't believe in signs or fate, but in retrospect, that looks an awful lot like a warning about how the year was going to go.

 

I have a cold (which I caught from my two-and-a-half year old niece while babysitting her) and while it was pretty bad at the beginning, on day seven I'm definitely over the worst of it and starting to feel like a human again. @Butternut commented in her thread about how letting her nutrition goals slide led to her getting sick more often, and I am 100% in the same boat. And this boat sucks, so screw that. Let's be stubborn together, Butternut. No more illness!

 

Plans for today:

• Go to family gathering at D's mum's house (in his family's culture, New Year's Day is the big holiday around this time of year)
• Start new Hobonichi!!!! 
• Steal @fleaball's tracking spreadsheet template and repurpose it for my own nefarious use
• Start on a list of 2018 goals
• Start food/mood journal
• Plan how to arrange the awesome new corkboard squares I bought to hang in my office
• Do thirty minutes on the elliptical in the basement because:

[Vibrantella]

Great to see you back, Severine!  Happy New year!  

[Severine]

My partner L is doing a NF challenge! And, in the process, revealing that L stands for Logan. I reel as my carefully constructed facade of anonymity comes tumbling down!

 

 

They're up against some substantial obstacles and a rather unfair roll of the genetic dice, but they're very determined and I obviously want for all of their dreams to come true, so I am in the first row of the cheering section. If anyone feels like giving them a word of encouragement now and again, there's the link.

[Severine]

18 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

You sound like a super interesting person from you description (and from what I remember, you challenges bear that out). Glad to have you back!

9 hours ago, Severine said:

Hello and thanks! I will come find your thread after new year's day festivities have wound down.

 

On further investigation, it looks like maybe you don't have a challenge? Not that I could find, anyway. If I'm wrong, let me know   

[fleaball]

9 hours ago, Severine said:

I am definitely that falling down cat.

Oh no, do we have to fight over this too? I assumed I was that one. 

 

8 hours ago, Severine said:

Plan how to arrange the awesome new corkboard squares I bought to hang in my office

On the ceiling, obv.

[juliebarkley]

4 hours ago, Severine said:

On further investigation, it looks like maybe you don't have a challenge? Not that I could find, anyway. If I'm wrong, let me know   

 

I do now!

[Bean Sidhe]

20 hours ago, Severine said:

And sorry for worrying you, Bean. I wish I hadn't flaked out (both because I feel guilty disappearing on people who I want to support, and because it makes it harder for me to stay on track) but I would like things to be different this time.

 

It was not a worry, it was more a "I wonder what she is up to." I Knew you were okay, I just missed seeing you. I get the disappearing because you need a minute, but needing the support. I can always try to bug you if you need me to.

[NeverThatBored]

Welcome back Severine!!!! It's so good to hear from you! Happy new year!!!

[Wobbegong]

I am probably mostly going to be lurking here but I just wanted to politely announce my presence and let you know I'm following along. Your goals look fantastic. Best of luck! 

[Severine]

1 hour ago, NeverThatBored said:

Welcome back Severine!!!! It's so good to hear from you! Happy new year!!!

 

NTB! So good to see you. I was worried, like...what if while I was gone all sorts of awesome people left NF and then I would never know where they went or get to say bye, etc. Very happy you're still here. Expect to see me over on your thread as I attempt to find out things like whether you had your wrist surgery, what state your nomad adventure has you currently living in, and what new adventures you are prepping for.

 

24 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

I am probably mostly going to be lurking here but I just wanted to politely announce my presence and let you know I'm following along. Your goals look fantastic. Best of luck! 

 

So glad to see you! And a huge congrats on the guild leader position. They chose well.

[Severine]

Behold! Here's week one in progress from the tracking spreadsheet I blatantly stole from @fleaball and modified for my goals. I started on Monday but I didn't bother deleting Sunday because it'd bug me if one week was shorter than all the others.

 

I was SO CLOSE to making my 12:00 bedtime last night. So close. But not quite.

 

[Bookish Badger]

Welcome back! And following.

[Bean Sidhe]

Looks like you had a good start to the week.

And WHY is bedtime the hardest one to get? I ahve the same issues. its like "I am planning to go there" Then 20 minutes later you going "Uh, how did I get derailed?"

Keep up the good work

[Athaclena]

Welcome back! I admit, I did put out an APB, but only after you dropped off my Fitbit friend list in addition to "going dark" on the boards. I just wanted to make sure you were ok - and fleaball reported in for you .  We worry ya know!

Life certainly happens - and does routinely suck. But - at the risk of getting that song stuck in my head - we all get knocked down, but we get up again.  Getting up is the hard part, but KEEP DOING IT!

 

 

[Butternut]

On 1/1/2018 at 1:23 PM, Severine said:

Happy New Year's, everyone!

 

Went with D and L to a nice brunch this morning and we had really fun conversations about our plans for this year, daydreaming about possible holiday destinations, etc. A heartwarming and funny and optimistic way to start off the year. And definitely a lot better than how 2017 started: when the year was only about 7 hours old, I accidentally broke a CFL bulb. So then we had to follow elaborate mercury decontamination protocols that included throwing out linens that got contaminated...so we spent half of New Year's Day cleaning up hazardous chemicals and then shopping for sheets and a new duvet. I don't believe in signs or fate, but in retrospect, that looks an awful lot like a warning about how the year was going to go.

 

I have a cold (which I caught from my two-and-a-half year old niece while babysitting her) and while it was pretty bad at the beginning, on day seven I'm definitely over the worst of it and starting to feel like a human again. @Butternut commented in her thread about how letting her nutrition goals slide led to her getting sick more often, and I am 100% in the same boat. And this boat sucks, so screw that. Let's be stubborn together, Butternut. No more illness!

 

Plans for today:

• Go to family gathering at D's mum's house (in his family's culture, New Year's Day is the big holiday around this time of year)
• Start new Hobonichi!!!! 
• Steal @fleaball's tracking spreadsheet template and repurpose it for my own nefarious use
• Start on a list of 2018 goals
• Start food/mood journal
• Plan how to arrange the awesome new corkboard squares I bought to hang in my office
• Do thirty minutes on the elliptical in the basement because:

 

This looks like a fun filled day!

 

Yay for Hobonichi!

 

Tracking my mood and food I've been using Grid Dairy  on my iPhone. It's a grid with a question in each one and you can create your own questions. 

 

Its super easy