RhiaWolfe's Back from Down Under

[RhiaWolfe]

Hey all! I'm back! I was in Australia for a month, and let me tell you, it was quite an amazing adventure. I went there by myself. 

 

 

It all started with my online school. I've made high grades in my MBA program and got accepted to the Golden Key National Honors Society a while back. I received an invite to study abroad for a week-long program for Business and Internship. I couldn't afford it, but I proposed it to my boss and in turn my company's CEO. Since we have two branches in Australia, not only did he pay for me to go on my week-long program, but he also paid for me to work for a week and a half at each of our branches! It was amazing.

 

I did all kinds of stuff and saw all kinds of things! I rode the trams around Melbourne, toured the opera house in Sydney, and explored the beaches in Brisbane! I went to the Australia Zoo in Brisbane that's owned by Steve Irwin's family and got to hold a koala and feed kangaroos! I visited the Victoria State Library in Melbourne (which was absolutely beautiful). I went shopping at The Rocks in Sydney and even got to experience Sydney's light festival, Vivid! 

 

It was an incredible experience and one I'll never forget (pictures coming later). 

 

However, that being said, I ended up eating out a LOT while there. I've fallen into old eating habits. I walked a lot, but I did a lot of sitting too and so much eating. I wanted to experience all of the food, and then it became a little much when I started eating out so much. Now that I'm home, I feel like I've gained a million pounds. I'm back to wearing 2XL shirts instead of XL. I'm still experiencing some jet lag and am only into my second day of work. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for now and just make small steps. 

 

I know I'm late to this challenge, but I want to finish this last week by giving myself a couple of small goals, then I'll continue into next week. 

 

I need my Nerd Fitness family to help me get back to where I was. The last time I did well and accomplished many of my goals was when I was with Nerd Fitness. You guys are amazing, and I hope to capture the same spirit that I had back then. Let's do this!!!

 

Goal 1: Drink water and tea, not soda. I will not drink any soda or juice for the rest of this challenge. This includes gatorade and other sugar drinks. 

 

Goal 2: Be kind to myself. I every day I update this post, I will write one good thing about myself. Something I'm proud of or happy about myself. I will report any negative self talk and try to turn it around. 

 

Goal 3: Give myself permission to rest. I feel like I should be jumping right out of the gate and getting things done. I have to remember that I just came back from a major adventure, being away from home for a whole month. I've never been gone that long. It was fun as hell, but emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting. I need to tell myself it's ok to rest for now. It's ok to spend time playing video games and unwinding instead of cleaning the house and unpacking my bags. It's ok that I'm not all back yet. It's ok that I'm not doing perfect. Small steps is the way. 

[RhiaWolfe]

Spoiler

Pictures!

 

This was at the Victoria State Library: 

 

 

 

 

Australia's Burger King is called "Hungry Jacks" 

 

 

 

The old architecture was amazing!!!! 

 

 

 

 

This building reminded me of the Great Hall at Hogwarts!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koalas!!!! This was on Phillip Island at the Koala Conservatory. 

 

 

 

 

Phillip Island! We watched the cute penguins come in from the surf. Couldn't take any pictures of the penguins though. Didn't want any accidental flashes influencing the Penguins' return to their homes. 

 

 

 

Sydney Opera house and harbor bridge!!!!!

 

 

 

I got to pet and hold a Koala! They're super soft! This was at Walkabout Wildlife Park. It's a reserve for some of these animals. Pictured below are Koalas, Echidnas, Tasmanian Devils, and wallabies! 

 

 

 

 

At the Australian Zoo in Brisbane. This Zoo is owned by the Steve Irwin family. 

 

 

 

Beautiful mountains! 

 

 

 

Yarra Valley Wine Country!!!!

 

 

 

 

Amazing bookstore in Queenscliff!

 

 

 

 

See the spoilers above for pictures from my trip to Australia! 

 

[RhiaWolfe]

Tuesday, 6/19/2018

 

I'm starting in the middle of the week at the end of the challenge, but I'm tired of "waiting for a good time to start". The time is now!!!!

 

So, yesterday, Tuesday, was rough. The morning was ok, but as the day went on I felt more and more tired. I felt dizzy at one point. I started feeling really depressed (especially as I started reading on social media and saw some of the horrible things happening in U.S. politics. Makes me want to go back to Australia more...). Last night I went home and instead of going to bed (Like I probably should have) I tried to play a video game. I realized I wasn't enjoying my game, so I stopped and watched youtube instead. I ordered pizza and I way overdid it. I got pizza, hot wings, cheesy bread, the works. I also had ice cream.

 

 

I was totally trying to drown my depression in food. I gave in because it was too much work to try and fight the urge. HOWEVER... I did follow my goals on my challenge and did not order a soda like I wanted. I want to try and start following my goals on challenges. I think the more I get into the habit of doing that, the better it will be for me as I work on harder tasks. So, I'm going to call this a win because in the past I have had a really hard time just sticking to my challenges or even just updating NF every day. I end up quitting. I need to stop quitting. 

 

One of my favorite quotes is "I know what it's like to quit... Time to find out what it feels like if I don't." 

 

Goal 1: Drink water and tea, not soda - Yesterday I drank a cup of tea first thing in the morning and the rest of the day I drank water. Even when I went out to eat and ate dinner, I drank water. I didn't give into the temptation to drink soda! WIN!

 

Goal 2: Be kind to myself - I like that I am courageous. If something scares me, I try to face my fears and get past it. I went to Australia by myself, explored the city on my own, and I didn't blink an eye. If I had done this several years ago, I probably would have been too scared to try that. I had a wonderful time and I owe part of it to my courage to go to an unknown city in a new country and explore by myself! 

 

Goal 3: Give myself permission to rest -This one I need to work on a bit. I should have probably gone to bed instead of stayed up playing video games and watching youtube. I should have rested/slept. I DID get my pet rats out to play for a bit, and they cheered me up a little. However, today I'm still feeling a little tired. Tonight I'm supposed to meet my dad for dinner. I may cancel depending upon how I feel this afternoon. 

[RhiaWolfe]

Wednesday, 6/20/2018

 

So, I'm still eating out a lot, but I'm not worrying about that too much yet. I'm trying not to worry about anything other than what my current goal is. I don't want to over-stress myself as I tend to and just make slow changes for a longer term solution. 

 

Yesterday I had dinner with my dad. We spent hours talking (well, mostly me talking about my trip). It was nice to see him, but I was wiped afterwards. I went home and went straight to bed. 

 

 

In September I'm going to DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. I had started working on a cosplay, but now I can't fit into some of the stuff and I don't want to re-buy the corset and whatnot. I"m trying to decide if I should just skip cosplaying this year or if I can think of a simple cosplay I can put together quickly. It's a little disheartening that I've gained enough weight that I don't even want to do the cosplay I originally was going to work on. It's tempting to try to hard-core diet to get back to where I need to be for the costume, but I know that never works for me. I'm going to slowly diet and try for lasting results and work on the cosplay another time. 

 

 

Goal 1: Drink water and tea, not soda - Still no soda or juice. This has become easier and easier. Going out to eat I've been tempted to get Sprite or something like that, but I've resisted and just had water. Last night when I went out to eat with my dad, I just got water. 

 

Goal 2: Be kind to myself - I definitely need this today as I'm having a little trouble with negative self-talk. So, here we go. Hrm... something that I like about myself. I like my confidence. I am confident in who I am. I am proud that I have gotten past the point of such self-loathing that I have found ways to love myself. I'm glad that I'm at the point that I can say that I'm awesome and actually believe it to be true most of the time. I have people that love me and find it easy to make friends. I have no trouble talking to people. 

 

Goal 3: Give myself permission to rest -Last night I went out to dinner with my dad. It was a little more taxing than I expected... so when I got home, I actually decided to go straight to bed instead of trying to stay up to watch youtube or something like that. I got to bed about 30 minutes to an hour earlier than usual. Today I'm glad I did. Feel a little more rested. 

[RhiaWolfe]

Thursday, 6/21/2018

 

TL;DR: I've had trouble adjusting and been dealing with depression, but now feel like I'm finally starting to come out on the other side. 

 

Pretty sure I'm finally past my jet lag! Yesterday I didn't really 'crash' hard like I have been doing. I did feel a little lazy, but I think that was just me feeling lazy. I still didn't really feel like talking to anyone though.

 

Earlier in the week I texted my therapist (as she has given me permission to do at times) because I was having really bad depression problems. She never responded, but she's not 'working' right now. She's taken time off which is why I couldn't get an actual appointment. I was really having a hard time though. I felt pretty helpless. I was still trying to get over some of the things I saw at the Brisbane, QLD, AUS branch where the employees are essentially being abused and bullied, and I felt like I couldn't do anything to help them. I had already reported what I saw to the owner of the company, and he's going to take NO action, and I was frustrated with that.

 

I get home, I'm tired, I'm frustrated, then find out that my Facebook has blown up because the Trump Administration is taking kids from their parents and putting them in cages. I get angry at that and feel helpless to do anything. People are ranting on Facebook, but my response was always "what can we do to change this?" I have absolutely no faith in the American Political system anymore. Coming back from a country with more of a political system I feel a little better about, it was hard to adjust. 

 

Then I'm inundated by people wanting to see me, asking how my trip was, then starting to talk and complain about their lives like they always do, and I just couldn't handle it all. In addition I was tired, feeling sick, dizzy, trying to get back into the groove of work... and it was all just too much for me. So I've been struggling this week... So I stopped getting on Facebook and tried to focus on just getting through the week and getting back on a regular schedule. That's it. I think that helped a lot. 

 

Somewhat long post here, but I felt like I just had to get that out. 

 

Now, on to how my goals went! 

 

 

 

Goal 1: Drink water and tea, not soda - Water and tea only. Today I think I'm going to keep track of how much I drink and try to up my intake in my next challenge. 

 

Goal 2: Be kind to myself - Ok, something about myself that I like. I like my sense of humor. I'm a fan of puns and dirty jokes. I can make some really inappropriate jokes at times, but they're rarely in bad taste. I like laughing and I like making my friends laugh (or groan from one of my bad puns). 

 

Goal 3: Give myself permission to rest - Last night I gave myself time to rest. I didn't do anything with anyone. I got dinner, went into my computer room, and played Stardew Valley for several hours. I then went and listened to an audio book while playing with my pet rats. It was a nice, restful evening. Feeling really good today!